Heart of Mine
by alonefreehearted
Summary: Just when things are beginning to settle down, Jack Sparrow and Sattelle de Pearl's life together is disrupted again by a much more deadly foe than before. Old and new villains appear, and the duo's love will be tested to its greatest limits!
1. Let The Rain In

**Goodness golly lord! 16 reviews for the _summary_? I love you guys, seriously. So, as your greatly deserved reward, here is…THE FIRST CHAPTER! Enjoy!**

"_Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry, you don't know how lovely you are."_

Coldplay – The Scientist

---

Moving through the thick fog blanketing the swamp is a demonic figure, shoulders hunched over in weighted discomfort. Following the specter is a large animal on a fraying rope, its long tail wagging incessantly, and cutting through the fog like a hot knife through butter. With every step, the shadow and its ward approach a weedy hut, hidden by the mist, swallowed by rank and disgusting growths, multi-hued and dangerous in their appearance. With no moon overhead, dozens of lanterns light the way down the path to the shack, each one of them a different shape and style. In some, the light from the oiled wick barely shines past the inside of the metal cylinder, while others drench the ground with a kind of unholy glow. The dark figure and his beast reach the front of the broken down shack, the man wiping beads of sweat and precipitation away from his brow. With heavy steps, the shadowy individual makes his way up the few stairs to the front door and into more of the awful light. The strange yellow green aura from the lamps douses the man in a sickly ruddiness, causing his naturally pale skin to look more deathly than normal. He glances at his reflection in a grimy broken window in the doorway, looking away from his own gaze before raising a long fingered hand to knock on the piece of wood hanging weakly from its hinges. With a strangled intake of shallow breath, his fist descends upon the door, almost hesitant to make contact. When it does, the entrance swings open with an eerie creak, causing the dog at the man's side to whimper and hide behind its master. Bracing his self one final time, the man steps inside the uncomfortably strange hut, tying the dog to a post with shaky hands. As he continues on, the mutt whines and lies on his stomach, nudging his paws over his nose.

Ahead, our mysterious figure pulls aside a beaded doorway fringe, having followed the sound of harsh singing, grimacing at the sight of shrunken embalmed heads interweaved with stained bones strung on pieces of twine. A hideous laughter startles the man from his staring, his pale green eyes searching and falling upon an old woman, perched in a rocking chair made of driftwood. In her bony left hand are two golden spheres spinning around in her palm, the movement strangely hypnotizing. The witch's wrists are swathed in a myriad of beads and fabrics, equally as strange as everything else on and around her. Each of her 10 fingers is bejeweled with a ring far too big for the appendage it's on. Across her flimsy skirted lap is a shabby Siamese cat with one blind eye and half of a tail, the godforsaken creature releasing a mewl that sounds more like a dying vulture than a cat. The witch's spidery clinking fingers weave through the animal's wiry fur affectionately, and her thin colorless lips part to speak in a voice worse than her pet's.

"You've come for your due, then?" She asks, crossing her legs beneath her skirts. The creature on her lap jumps away in agitation, growling at the visitor before leaping off with a limp into the shadows.

"Aye," he replies, not taking his eyes off of the haggard witch. The crone sighs, getting to her feet and teetering, grasping the old rocking chair to balance herself with her free hand, placing the golden orbs on the moth eaten seat cushion. Dusting off her dress with a sounding of bracelets, she moves past the man towering over her towards another room in the shack, crooking her finger at her guest to follow. Hesitantly, the giant figure leans down to fit under the small, off-centered doorway, a pale hand on the frame. Glancing around, the witch, he notices, is bent over a chair and digging around in a chest spilling over with jewels and clothes and other various items. The crone lets out a triumphant cackle, causing shivers to run up and down the man's spine, but he turns excited when she veers around with something held between the thumb and index finger of her right hand. It is a strange little thing, glittering in the light of the candles surrounding them. From first glance it is nothing more than a white pearl, roughly the size of a succulently ripe blackberry, with a hole and thread laced through the top of it. But when the crone turns the object, it's insides turn from pearl to a clear, gold tinted stone, known simply as citrine. Not a special or rare stone, but beautiful in it's own right.

"Drake Dansen," the witch croaks, the man looking away from the pendant to her beady black eyes. "This gift cannot be taken lightly. Because you have received it by paying in blood, it will not go untainted. Any woman who is impure of heart and touches this gem will die."

Drake scoffs passively.

"Spare me your insights, witch, I have no patience or need for your curse and foretelling. Give me what is mine, and I will be on my way. I have already done what you asked of me to have this, and so now I rightfully take my due. Give me the pendant," he says angrily, putting his hand out. The old woman obliges without another word, holding the pendant above her head daintily between her fingers. With a defiant but ignorant huff, she drops the thing into the man's palm.

"Be gone with you, young sir. If your lady love dies, do not come running to blame me," she remarks lightly, still with that awful voice. Drake, as he had been called, says nothing in reply and turns on his heel to leave, and he nearly makes it all the way back to his dog before the witch calls to him again.

"Dansen?"

He turns, his towering figure bent in the doorway.

"What?" He barks, glaring back at the crone. She looks him over once from her stance in the other room before chuckling darkly. She waves one bony hand dismissively before sitting in her rocking chair, swirling the golden spheres in her left palm again. Dansen unravels his dog's leash, slipping the citrine pearl in his pocket and tugging on the rope to veer the animal's attention away from the gangly Siamese cat staring one eyed and menacing from the shadows.

---

Carefully leaning against the door, Jack Sparrow rests his hand on the wood, his brow there as well. With a tortured look, he closes his eyes and growls deep in the back of his throat.

"Open this door, Miss de Pearl. Or do I have to break it down, myself?" He asks, his short nails tapping the wood impatiently.

"You can sleep out with the sheep for all I care, Sparrow," comes the steady reply from a female voice. Jack rolls his eyes and pushes against the locked door with his head, glaring it down.

"Miss Sadie, I'm not going to ask you again. _Open this door._"

The woman on the other side laughs.

"Or what? You'll break it down and risk waking up Harper?"

At this, Jack grimaces, standing up from the door with his hands fisted at his sides.

"Damn it, must you always use that against me, love?"

"If it'll stop you from breaking down an emotional woman's door, then yes Jack, I will."

With a final sigh, the man steps away, his hands going lax.

"Fine," he mutters, turning away with one last glance at the doorway. He goes to walk down the hall when two big blue eyes stare up at him from the ground, causing Jack to pause in step.

"Papa?" The child asks groggily, rubbing sleep from her eyes with chubby fists. "Are you and mama fighting?"

Feeling his heart break at the sight of his daughter's worried expression, one that she should have no practice with, Jack lifts the dark haired girl into his arms, holding her close to his chest.

"Assuredly not, love. Mama's just having one of her moments when she needs to be let alone from your old man. Savvy?"

"Savvy, papa," the little girl nods, poking her thumb into her mouth and closing her eyes. Smiling peacefully, Jack rests his lips against the crown of his daughter's head, walking back down the hall towards her bedroom. Stepping over the threshold, he goes over to Harper's bed and lays her in it, quietly humming a chantey as he pulls the covers over her tiny body. Kneeling at her side, Jack runs his fingers through the little girl's silky tresses, a tiny smile turning the corners of his mouth up, causing the faintest wrinkles to appear at the corners of his eyes, the wrinkles one gets from smiling all the time. Harper opens her eyes, looking up at the man still humming to her.

"Papa?" She whispers, removing her thumb from her mouth. Jack leans up and sits no the edge of the girl's bed, his hand buried in her hair to cradle the back of her head.

"Yes, love?"

Snuggling into her pillow, Harper yawns, releasing the faintest mewl.

"Tell me about the time you and mama first met?"

Sparrow chuckles as he leans down, kissing his daughter's baby-soft temple with another smile.

"Later, deary. You need to sleep."

Nodding, Jack Sparrow's four-year-old daughter curls up under the covers, whispering goodnight. Smiling, the father stares at his greatest treasure for a moment longer before getting off of the tiny bed and walking out of her room, turning and shutting the door behind him with a mute click as the metal latch slides into place. Taking a step back from it, Jack turns and begins to make his way towards the other end of the hall to the stairs. He inches past Sadie's door with apprehension, wanting only to break it down and get back to the woman on the other side who seems so adamant about staying away from him. Against his better judgment, Jack pauses at her door, one bejeweled hand raised to knock. He stares at the mahogany entry for a moment, trying multiple times to will his hand to move. But knowing at least when not to bother a woman, Sadie most of all, he moves away with a tormented and pitiful sigh and walks away, scuffing his bare feet against the floorboards with one hand grasping his opposite wrist behind his back.

Behind the retreating form of Captain Sparrow, the doorway he had been standing at opens, revealing the head and shoulders of a woman with pale hair and doe blue eyes. Her long fingers wrap around the edge of the door, eyes watching the man ahead waver down the stairs to the den. Sadie goes to step over the threshold and follow Jack, but a sound from down the other end of the hall stops her, sneaking behind the doorframe. A moment passes, the woman noticing that an orange glow has saturated the bottom floor, when a small figure walks past. Sadie watches as her daughter tiptoes past, her dainty little nightdress swishing at her feet. As Harper disappears, Sadie pokes her head out to watch as the child descends the stairs in pursuit of her father. When her dark head passes out of sight, the woman lingering behind sneaks out of her bedroom to follow.

At the foot of the stairs, Sadie peers around the wall into the den to where Jack is letting his jacket, sash and belts fall to the floor, facing the warm fire burning in the brick hearth. Standing not two or three feet behind him is their daughter, fidgeting with her hands nervously. Jack sits on the floor before the flames with a grunt, his rigid body relaxingly slumping forward. With his loose shirt devoid of vest and coat hanging limply on his torso, the fabric painted a brilliant orange, his navy blue trousers tinted as well, Jack looks more like a painting than a live man, even with the pained look cast upon his wrought face.

"Papa?" Harper's petite voice whispers amongst the crackling of the flames in the hearth. Jack turns around quickly in surprise, his hardened face becoming lax, dark eyes brightening upon taking one look at his child daughter. Harper bows her hear and walks towards her father, taking his outstretched hand.

"I told you to go to bed, Harper Rose," he whispers, pulling the little girl into his lap. She nods, snuggling into Jack's embrace.

"I couldn't sleep. And you looked melonpolly."

Jack chuckles, shaking his head. Sadie, still watching from behind the wall, catches the glint of gold from Jack's smile.

"It's melancholy, my dear. And I wasn't sad – you must be mistaken."

The child in his arms shakes her head, twisting a strand of beads in her fingers.

"No papa, you're sad because mama's unhappy."

Jack's smile disappears, his eyes falling to Harper, falling asleep quickly in the crook of his elbow. Sparrow nods, kissing her brow.

"Aye. You can see right through me, can't you?" He asks, but he receives no reply, as the little girl breathes evenly in and out, arms crossed against her chest. Jack chuckles again, leaning his head against his daughter's. "Right through me."

Sadie's hand comes to rest at her heart, tears welling up under her lashes. It is true, she is unhappy, as Nemie recently passed away. In her will she left the estate to Sadie, who immediately handed it over to the government of Port Isaac. Unfortunately for Jack, he has been on the receiving end of negativity the past few days because of her old nurse's death, casting a glom over their household in Port Royal. Quietly, Sadie moves away from behind the wall towards the sitting figures of her family, gripping a handful of her shift. Standing behind Jack's left shoulder, she puts a nervous hand on it, causing her partner to jump in surprise. He looks up at her, and Sadie gives him a sheepish grin. Without a word, she kneels at his side and reaches across his lap to caress the side of Harper's sleeping face. Pulling away, Sadie glances up into Jack's gaze and sighs.

"I'm sorry, Jack," she whispers, taking one of his hands in her own. Leaning her head on his shoulder in a silent pleading for forgiveness, Sadie watches their daughter sleep comfortably. A moment passes in silence save for the merry cackling of the fire before them, and Sadie does not notice Jack's hand come up to her face until his coarse are settled under her chin, tilting her head up to look at him.

"You do realize that it drives me insane when you shut me out?"

Shamefully, the woman nods, gripping Jack's hand tighter. He smirks and brings Sadie's face closer to his, letting their lips settle against each other for a lingering moment's kiss. Jack pulls away reluctantly and wraps his free arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him as well as their sleeping child. Once Sadie is under night's spell too, Jack turns his gaze away from her and into the fire, a content smile on his face. In the flames he can see the life he left behind, aboard _The Black Pearl _with his crew. The moment he had learned of Sadie's pregnancy, he ordered immediate docking in Port Royal. The Turners were kind enough to find a home for them to settle into, not too far away from their own home, but enough away to avoid the navy and other intrusive eyes coming to bother him and his family. Gibbs took command of the _Pearl, _sailing off with Ana Maria and Cotton and everyone else who cared to stay. It had been painful to leave the sea, for Jack, but knowing a child would come of his staying gave him the peace he needed. Now with his daughter in one arm and his lady in the other, the idea of sailing is more of a passing fancy than a dire need. Carefully, Sparrow clutches Harper and lays on the floor, placing his precious child on his chest and holding Sadie close to his side, the sleeping woman reflexively draping an arm across his stomach. Holding his family near, Jack Sparrow closes his eyes and exhales, allowing the sounds of his girls' breathing to lull him to sleep.

**Well, there you have it! The first chapter! **

**Love **

**Rachel**


	2. Thicker than Water

**This is bordering on more than I could ever hope for. I'm so happy and excited that all of my readers are coming back, and I hope I can do you guys justice with this story…It's slow in the making, but I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless!**

"_Feel my chest when I look at you, baby you've got my only heart."_

John Mayer – Only Heart

---

Standing at the appointed meeting destination given by her lover is a woman, dressed in all grandeur with her fiery red hair French braided over one pale shoulder. In porcelain hand is a lace fan wavering steadily to cool the woman in the heat of the Caribbean sun, while in the other there is an open letter. She glances around the beach for the man who gave it to her, her lover, but finds him nowhere. Her cold blue eyes turn to the sea, an impatient sigh escaping past her red-painted lips drawn into a thin scowl.

"Alessandra?" A man's voice calls from behind the tree the woman stands at. She turns around at the sound of her name to see a giant man approaching, his long inky black hair pulled back at the base of his neck, giving view to his pale skin and eyes. The woman, Alessandra, gives the man a strained grin and waits for Dansen to come to her. When he does, his 6'6" frame towers over the petite woman, but still he leans down and kisses her.

"What did you want to speak to me about, Drake?" She asks, trying to appear gentile, but ultimately only coming across as amazingly impatient. Dansen smiles as he puts a hand in his pocket and draws out an envelope. Alessandra watches as her lover breaks the seal and pulls up the flap, turning the thing upside down. A grape sized object falls into the palm of his hand. Dansen holds it out to her, revealing that she should take the pendant. Alessandra looks at it.

"It's nice," she says carelessly, absentmindedly gazing at the back of her hand. Dansen's smile flickers.

"You don't like it?" He asks worriedly, fearing he had somehow displeased his love. Without looking at him, she shrugs.

"I never said I didn't like it, I just think it's rather average."

Dansen huffs as he takes the pendant between his fingers and shoves it in Alessandra's face with a faint growl.

"You have to look at it closely, my love! This is my gift of engagement to you, after all."

Alessandra glances at the gem. Upon her closer scrutiny, she notices, the object looks like nothing more than a large freshwater pearl. But when Drake moves it, the opalescent shell gives way to reveal the inside. Instead of solid pearl, it is a mass of citrine, a beautiful yellow gold stone. Alessandra releases a minute smile, holding her hand out. Dansen grins and brings the object down, dropping the pendant and chain into his love's white palm. With his eyes focused on the gem, Drake does not notice Alessandra's breath catch in her throat. With hope, the man looks into her eyes, only to notice her entire beautiful face contorting in pain.

"Alessandra?" He cries, grasping her by the arms. Alessandra freezes up, eyes rolling back into her head. Dansen watches helplessly as her breathing stops completely and her face goes pale, the muscles behind it going lax. The pendant and its chain fall from her hand onto the beach as her body goes limp in Drake's arms. Falling to the sand, he cradles his dead lover in shock, taking a moment before glancing at the citrine pearl. The heart of the gem turns a fiery red for the briefest moment, only to settle back into its original color.

"What's going on here, then?"

Dansen looks up to see men of the Navy coming towards him and his deceased intended. Panicking, he drops Alessandra onto the sand and snatches the gem, getting to his feet and running off, leaving the stunned officers in his wake. Towards the hidden caves of town he flees, the citrine pearl digging painfully into his sweating palm. Dansen crawls behind a wall of rocks like a madman, his sickly green eyes, sheen with unshed tears, scanning his surroundings before jumping into the cave. In the darkness, he leans against a coarse wall and slides to the ground, his free hand passing over his face.

"Alessandra," he whispers mournfully, sobbing without tears. Opening his other hand, Dansen looks at the pendant and curses himself, wondering why he had not heeded the witch's warning. The man shakes his head disbelievingly.

"But not my Alessandra! She was more kind than any other woman!" But something in Drake's mind screams at him that that is more than a lie. Standing, Dansen crawls back out of the cave into sunlight, glancing about warily, before moving towards the boat docks, shoving the cursed pendant into his coat pocket. While no one is looking, Drake unties a longboat and climbs in, taking hold of the oars and hastily making his escape, breathing laboriously. Indeed, it hardly ten minutes have passed since Alessandra died in his arms. At this thought Drake shakes his head of the sight of her pale, lifeless face and instead focuses on finding the witch once more, to torture her and burn her like she should be.

--

Upon waking, Sadie finds herself lying on the floor of her living room, one of her arms draped around Jack's middle and the other tucked under her side. On the man's chest is their daughter, her left thumb in her mouth and her right entangled in her father's hair. Sadie leans up, putting a hand on the floor to balance her body, looking down at her family. Harper and Jack look so alike, with the same color hair and eye shape. The little girl even has the same pouting lower lip as her father, which in turn causes for many lost arguments. Sadie's bright eyes turn to Jack, her own Mister Jack, her very foundation and life partner. She is content not to wear some stolen ring to show her claim – for Sparrow and she, no outward sign or ceremony means as much as their simple, resolute love for each other. And little Harper Rose has only strengthened their bond, bringing the two adults closer than either of them thought possible. Sadie's lips turn up as she glances at the faded red bandana around Jack's brow, furrowed in sleep. She goes to reach out and touch it when the man stirs with a murmur, the hand on her side flinching. Sadie watches as Sparrow's eyes flutter open, slowly adjusting to the light of day pouring in through the windows. He looks up at her and a groggy morning smile lights his face, weak with sleep's disorientation.

"Morning, love," he says quietly, noticing his arm wrapped around the sleeping Harper. His partner, held in his other arm, grins at him and puts a gentle palm against the side of his face. Giving him a swift peck on the mouth, Sadie gets to her feet, adjusting her cotton shift and giving Jack a wink.

"Comfortable?" She asks, being sore from sleeping on the hard floor herself. Jack gives her a sour look, but a smile overtakes his features soon after.

"What time is it?" He inquires, straining his head to look at the clock.

"Seven o clock in the morning," Sadie replies, moving to take Harper into her arms. Sparrow hands off their slumbering daughter, grateful to be doing so as he sits upright, massaging the back of his neck with a grimace. Sadie, standing over him, notices this action and sighs.

"I'll be right back to give you a massage, Jack."

Sparrow beams up at her like a grateful child, watching as the woman walks off with Harper in her arms, up the stairs to the child's bedroom.

Still on the floor, Jack chuckles and turns around, getting to his own bare feet and stretching his sore arms above his head. Circulating his shoulders, he wanders over to a pair of glass double doors, leading out onto a tiny patio. Standing with his hands resting against the railing, Jack bows his head between his locked arms, shirtsleeves billowing in the morning Port Royal breeze. He leans the side of his head on his shoulder, closing his eyes.

When two hands travel up from his stomach to settle on his chest, Jack sighs, bringing a hand to rest on one of Sadie's. The woman leans her head against his back, holding herself closer to him. Jack responds by taking Sadie's hands and wrapping both pairs of their arms around his stomach, keeping her right up against his back.

"How are you, Jack?" She asks quietly, nuzzling his shirt. The man chuckles, rubbing his hands gently against the delicate flesh of Sattelle's wrists comfortingly.

"Considering I have you and Harper Rose, I couldn't be better."

Sadie gives his back an unconvinced look.

"Tell the truth, pirate of mine," she replies, "You must miss the sea, and the _Pearl, _and the free-" Before she can finish her statement, Jack veers her around so her back is against the rail, the pirate captain putting both arms on either side of her. He dives forward and smothers Sadie's mouth in a hard kiss, overflowing with the meanings his wishes to assess. Pulling away a few moments later, both panting adults rest their brows against the other, Jack keeping her trapped between his arms.

"You are my freedom, Sadie," he whispers, closing his eyes. Protectively, and as a way to attest to his statement, he puts an arm around Sadie's middle, standing upright and pulling her close to him. Entangling a ringed hand in her hair, Jack and his lady stand there on the patio, lost in an overdue embrace. In moments like this, years could pass and neither of them would notice.

Sparrow chuckles, leaning back a few minutes later.

"Now, how about that aforementioned mentioned massage of great need, deary?"

Scoffing, Sadie swats Jack's arm, glaring up at him.

"My god, Jack. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a massage-fetishist.

"Ah but you see love, I'm a man, and as such I require certain amenities at my every whim. What if I told you I wanted to take you? Right here, right now?"

Sadie's jaw drops, only to snap back into place when Jack's hand falls to rest low on her hip, gathering a handful of her shift. Slowly, he takes her bottom lip between his teeth, not taking his eyes off of her own. As soon as hers start to become half-mast, Jack pulls away, completely victorious.

"Would you call me a sex fetishist? It's all the same idea, really."

Sadie glares at the beaming man foully, although cursing herself inwardly for being such a damn pushover when it comes to her beautiful partner. She playfully smacks him upside the head, moving out of his warm hold.

"Men don't have _amenities, _Jack. They have _egos_!" She retorts, folding her arms. Jack smirks that accursed devilish smirk, and Sadie finds it hard to keep her resolve up at the sight of it.

"But you love my ego, don't you?" He says knowingly, still inching closer. "In fact, I'd dare say you enjoy my ego, even. In quite a number of positions, I might be so bold to add," he includes secretively, his breath tickling the fine hairs against the shell of Sadie's ear. If not for the uncontrollable blush rising to her cheeks, she would have appeared completely composed. Unfolding her arms, she shoves the beaming pirate against the outside wall of the house, pressing her body flush against his. With her hands sneaking below the waistline of Jack's trousers, Sadie breathes hotly onto his neck, a few scant millimeters away from taking the bronze flesh of his neck between her lips. As she had intended, Jack seizes up under her ministrations, trying not to let a low groan escape past his lips, as that would name her victor.

"If you don't watch yourself, Sparrow, I'll relieve you of the only thing that satisfies your ego until you go insane, at which point I'll then jump your unworthy bones until you have no dire comprehension of which end is up!"

With a satisfied huff, Sadie turns on her heel and marches back into the house, desperate to get away from that man's gaze. She barely manages to get a few paces into the house, just past the fireplace, when Jack's voice appears from the doorway behind her.

"I'm looking forward to it!"

Pausing in step, Sadie's hands clench at her sides.

"I'm going to go check on your _daughter, _now, Sparrow."

Without another word and ignoring the guffawing coming from her partner, she walks up the stairs, going instead to her own bedroom and shutting the door. Leaning against it, a sudden unstoppable grin splits her face in two, her left hand coming to rest on her blushing cheek.

"Damn you Jack," Sadie whispers, moments before collapsing into a fit of giggles.

---

I apologize for the chapters being so short right now, but it's just a matter of getting characters rolling and such and stuff. Leave some love!

**Rachel**


	3. Life Giving Waters Taken for Granted

**Of all possible sins!! Please forgive me my darlings for leaving you like that! I just started my sophomore year of high school, I went through National Novel Writing Month in November, and I haven't found the time or willpower to put up a new chapter! If reviews keep coming in after this next one, I'll definitely put more up with pleasure! (I know that sounds low, but it's the only way I know people are reading and enjoying!) But enough of that, enjoy!**

"_Fathers be good to your daughters, daughters will love like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers, so mothers be good to your daughters too." _

John Mayer - Daughters

---

Back through the mist Dansen trudges, pushing back reeds and tree branches draped with lichen to get back to the witch's hut. The cursed gemstone is gripped firmly in his hand, the object making no move to claim his life it had Alessandra's. Turning at the old willow tree, limbs dangling limply a few overgrown inches above the swampy ground, Dansen sees the unholy lights coming from the witch's hut. Quickening his pace, Drake moves through the fog and down the path to the broken shack, a livid scowl marring his handsomely dark features. Clambering up the steps, his long unwashed black hair falling around his shoulders, Dansen bursts through the door, causing the entire building to shudder. He looks around madly.

"Witch!" He cries, shoving his hair out of his face. Silence is his only reply. Panting, Drake puts the pendant on a rickety table, wandering towards the back of the hut. A sudden low, hideous mewl sounds off from behind him, causing the man to veer around sharply. There on the table is the grotesque, one-eyed sallow-haired half-tailed Siamese cat, the citrine pearl clasped between its yellow fangs.

"No!" Dansen wails, stumbling to chase after the horrid creature. But the cat hisses at him and leaps off of the table before the fumbling man can catch him, tearing across the shack to the door and out into the night. Falling out of the abandoned hut, Drake cries out for the witch to return and bring back his Alessandra. But again, the silence of the murky fog-banked swamp is the only reply he receives, leaving Drake Dansen along in his cold anger. Getting up from the dirt to his feet, Drake, swathed in an eerie glow from the lamps at his feet, he kicks one and lets out a long bellow of distress and hatred. Fuming, with his empty hands clenched at his sides, Dansen bows his head.

_I will not rest until every man who possesses the citrine pearl lies dead, and the witch who has ruined my life lies with him. _

Raising his head, Drake begins to walk back into the hut.

_Any woman who lives to hold the pearl will suffer the wrath of my vengeance, whether by sword or my own two hands. _

Shedding his black coat and launching it onto the witch's abandoned driftwood rocking chair, Drake makes his way over to a clothes chest, removing a complete wardrobe of black and a bejeweled belt to holster his guns to. With his affects in place and his heart steeled, Dansen goes and lifts his coat off of the chair, replacing it around his shoulders and leaving the hut for good.

--

Jack stands akimbo at the base of the stairs, tapping his bare foot against the floorboards.

"Young missy, you're taking a bath and that's final," he orders pointedly. Little Harper Rose, standing defiantly at the top of the stairs with her arms crossed, shakes her head.

"No, Papa! Not until we go to the sea and I get to go swimming like you promised we would!"

Jack takes one step up the stairs and growls, but Harper stands strong.

"Harper, do I have to bring your mum into this?" He threatens emptily.

"You can," says another female voice from behind, "But I can't promise I'll be on your side, Jack."

Sparrow turns on his heel to behold Sadie; arms folded just like her daughter.

"Now love," Jack begins, but Sadie ignores him.

"Harper," she says, catching the child's attention, "Did you ask papa nicely if you could go to the beach?"

"Aye, mama."

Looking to Jack for confirmation, Sadie smiles triumphantly as he wilts and nods. Wrapping her arms around her partner, she kisses the pirate's cheek and goes to walk away when he wraps his arms around her middle.

"You owe me now, love," he whispers lowly in her ear, millimeters away from taking her earlobe between his teeth. Sadie gasps.

"Jack! Harper is right up there!" She hisses as quietly as possible. Jack smirks and shakes his head.

"Not anymore, she ain't." Without another work, Jack takes Sadie's hand and pulls her over to a small door in the wall under the stairs, opening it and dragging them both inside. On either side of the closed door is a dimly lit lamp, the glow revealing the entirety of Jack's study. Unceremoniously, the pair land on the table, Sparrow leaning against it awkwardly with his back bent. With one arm around her shoulders to hold Sadie close against him, he uses his free hand to gather up the flimsy skirt of her shift, keeping their mouths enjoyably preoccupied. With their lack of time, Sadie can only pray as she discards her partner of his slacks that Harper does not walk in on them.

---

Fifteen minutes later, however exhausting they had been, Jack and Sadie stumble out of the pirate's study in time for Harper Rose to come bounding down the stairwell in her swimming gown, a bonnet on her head and a pink ribbon tying her hair back. Sadie, still flustered from their escapades not moments before, grins and takes her daughter into her arms, holding her close and kissing her temple.

"Ready, love?" She asks, to which Harper nods readily in giddy reply. Letting the girl onto the floor, Jack and Sadie watch as she tears out the front door and begins skipping down towards the beach. Following, Sparrow puts an arm around his love's waist, leading her out of the house. As they walk, Jack puts a finger in his mouth and closes his eyes, letting out a soft moan. Sadie looks up at him and puts a hand over her mouth as she shrieks.

"Jack, stop!" She pleads, tugging on his arm. Jack opens his eyes and gives her a knowing wink before sighing at the persistent look on her beautiful face.

"But you taste so _exquisitely divine, _my love."

Sadie growls and elbows him in the side, turning her attention towards looking for their daughter. Harper Rose hobbled around giggling not ten paces ahead of them. Giving a final glare at Jack, she moves away from the snickering man and goes to Harper, her embarrassed scowl quickly replaced by an insurmountable grin. Jack looks on proudly, knowing that many locals had their eyes locked on he and his family with a sense of awe. Adjusting the lapels of his coat, Sparrow continues on a few paces behind his woman and child, giggling and laughing like the girls they are.

As the beach comes into view and the last of the buildings in town disappear, Jack notices out of the corner of his keen eye a group of men appear out of the shadows behind the last inn, each one of them giving Sadie a rather distasteful look. Jack pauses, causing the woman ahead of him to turn and notice his flared temper.

"Jack?" Sadie calls. Sparrow waves her off.

"Go on ahead, love," he replies sternly, his eyes not leaving the group of men. Nodding in compliance, Sadie takes their child by the hand and continues towards the beach, knowing that Jack would deal with whatever details needed to be resolved.

Behind her, Sparrow clears his throat loudly to gain the attentions of the haggard kempt men staring after his Sadie. One of them glances at Jack, causing the rest of them to follow suit. The largest of the ruffians, no doubt the leader with the ugly dark scar running down the length of his face and a messy fop of black hair on his head, puts a hand on the cutlass lashed to his side.

"See something of interest, gents?" Jack inquires, passively tapping the butt of his pistol with a ringed finger. The leader snorts.

"Not been much for a pirate's whore, I," he replies, nodding in Sadie's direction.

"Aye," says another, his seedy brown eyes and pale skin looking remarkably fetid. "And throw a bratty whelp into the mess and all that's left is spoiled goods. There ain't nothing left worth screwing except loose bones."

With a swift uppercut, the second man is sent to the ground, the leader following suit as Jack elbows the side of his face with the remaining force from the first blow. Standing up straight, Jack turns to the remaining men, shaking his hand out.

"Is that how you're all feeling then? Anyone else want to make an insult to what's mine?"

The rest glance at one another for a moment before peering down at their groaning comrades. Nervously looking at the lividly calm Captain standing before them, his hand leisurely wrapped around the butt of his pistol, the ruffians take up their fallen and scamper off into the shadows, leaving Sparrow to hide his gun back in his sash and turn to follow his family, now already playing in the clear blue waters of Port Royal.

Sadie turns her head over her shoulder when she hears the familiar sound of Jack's boots approaching from behind, giving her the cause to beam. Getting to her feet, Sadie picks up her skirts and runs over to Jack whose arms are already open for her.

"Are you alright?" She immediately asks, inspecting Jack's beautiful face. Once she feels that not a mark has been laid upon the handsome pirate, she sighs, placing a hand on the side of his face. "You had me worried, Jack," she says, leaning forward and placing a chaste kiss on his smirking lips.

"Papa!"

Sadie pulls away at the outcry of their daughter, moving to the side as Harper Rose hurtles herself at her father's shins. Jack grins and kneels down, taking the child into his arms.

"Miss me, deary?" He asks, putting a hand on the back of her head. Harper nods, gripping her father's coat in her tiny fingers.

"Mama said you went off to stop the bad men. Are you alright, Papa?"

Laughing, Jack nods, lifting his little bird onto his shoulders, causing Harper to shriek and grab onto her father's head to balance herself. If anything, having a family of worried girls that tend to fawn over him always pleases Jack. Walking towards the water, Sparrow wraps an arm around Sadie's waist, pulling her close against his side.

"Lovely day, ain't it?"

---

**Short, sweet, fluffy. Enjoy, my lovelies! **

**Rachel**


	4. I'll Only Lie by the Waterside at Night

**Yay! I'm glad there are still some readers out there! For your lovely reviews, I give you chapter four!! I warn you that my chapters do tend to be short, unfortunately.**

"_I've got blood in my eyes for you." _

Bob Dylan – Blood in My Eyes

---

Seated at a morbid bar are two men, dressed in a varied assortment of rags and other such tassels of clothing, giving off the aura of utmost disregard to their own health. One of them, if at all possible the more well kempt of the two, has a tankard grasped firmly in his left hand, his yellowed nails overgrown and almost cantankerous in their appearance. He brings the mug to his scarred lips and knocks a swig down, grimacing and closing his faded eyes. There is a thin film of sweat over his lip and a large bead falling down from his thick hairline past his temple then down and off his chin, landing upon the table. He grunts when his mate nudges him not to drink too much.

His accomplice is a younger man, not a day over the age of twenty one. However, despite his youth, he is haggard and loathsome to look upon. A fop of mousy brown hair hangs limply around his face, as though it has not been under a tap for quite some time. If that was unclean enough, a layer of soot, grime and mud covers his handsomely young face, concealing his features and causing his keen hazel eyes to become lost amongst the dirt. An overgrown beard and mustache hides whatever might remain to show to the public, effectively turning away many an unwanted woman.

The pair simultaneously takes a hearty glug from their mugs and wipes their beards of the excess fluid, the younger man keeping his eyes open to peer at wary incomers. The small London tavern the two men currently wallow in bustles with inherent madness, wenches gleefully shrieking and other men throwing blind drunk punches left and right. In dark corners of the room, secretive transactions made with much exchanging of coins and hoarse whispers. There are shady men; ruffians with three teeth and a ruffled and disgruntled parrot on their shoulder; vagabonds with peg legs and such slurred grammar that the only people that can understand them are themselves (and even then it is futile). Scoundrels whose tattered clothes hang poorly from their marred flesh so awfully that even the scattered barmaids dare not approach for fear of catching some disease by just breathing the same air. And of course, wreathed around this teeming orgy of men, women, mugs and ales like pipe smoke is the unholy feeling of dread and despair, like the cloak worn by the figure currently hiding under the stars.

The two men at the bar table get up from their stools and each place a shilling on the dusty wood top, the younger lingering behind a moment. Putting his hand on the table, he turns his weary and hazy head towards the direction of the stairs where he suddenly senses some foreboding, and an effeminate hand appears from the shadows, a small gleaming object in its palm. Intrigued but not without hesitation, the young man finds his feet already leading him towards the shadows as if being drawn by the beckoning finger. The disembodied hand and its treasure disappear when the young man approaches, only to shoot out again and grasp him by the wrist, pulling him behind a door that had not even noticed before. In the darkness, he can only wait helplessly for whomever he is with to light something. When they do, the startlingly beautiful face of a young woman swathed in white silk, giving him a compassionate smile, greets his anxious self. Without a word, she takes his hand and opens his fingers, placing the same shimmering object in his palm.

"Take this," she says quietly, closing his fingers around the small thing. "Take it."

"What do I do with it?" He asks, giving her a confused and pleading look. The woman smiles and places a hand against his cheek, giving him a pointed look.

"What you will, Mr. Codney…what you will."

Slowly, the young man so called 'Codney' bows and steps away from the beautiful woman and towards the door at his back. Turning the handle from behind his back, he lets the light of the tavern drown the broom closet under the stairs. Where the beautiful woman stood was now a haggard old crone with wrinkled hands and a yellow sneer. Her black and grey hair piles in a strange bouffant mess on top of her head. In a sudden flick of her frail wrist, she disappears into the darkness, an unnerving cackle filling the head of the young man before fading away into the tumultuous sounds of the tavern.

"Peter!" A man calls, cupping his hands to his mouth so the sound carries over the raucous. The young man standing in the doorway of the broom closet turns his head to look for his partner, spotting him at the entrance of the tavern, struggling between getting shoved out and being yanked back inside. Peter Codney looks over his shoulder one last time before sliding the witch's gift into his vest pocket. Making his way through the crowd, Peter meets his partner and nods to him, clutching his coat together and moving out into the night, a cold shiver involuntarily running down the length of his spine – not from the chill, but the strange feeling the witch's gift sent through him.

--

"Careful, Harper! We don't need you getting stung!" Calls Sadie from her comfortable position in Jack's lap, watching their daughter poke at a dead jellyfish lying in the sand.

"I've poked jellies before love, they never stung me," says the man enveloping her in his arms. Sadie looks over her shoulder at Jack and rolls her eyes.

"Yes, but as I have recalled on occasion, you tend not to realize things when you're enjoying your rum."

Jack grins at this and holds the woman tighter. He places a kiss on her brow and shrugs.

"She's got your eyes and your adorability factor," he then says, trying to either change the subject or prove his obscure point, "But she's got my curiosity."

Sadie pokes her tongue out at Jack and grasps his hands, bringing them around to embrace her around her middle. Jack responds by bringing her in closer, leaning his head on her shoulder.

"Happy happy," he mumbles, closing his eyes. Sadie nods, intertwining her fingers with his. Indeed, they have every reason and right to be happy. They have a beautiful healthy little girl, a home near their friends, and…

Sadie looks up at Jack's face when he lifts his head to call out something to Harper.

…Their love.

A smile comes to the woman's features as she too watches Harper play. She often hears from other women's gossip that passion can very easily soon be lost after having a child, but it has never been so for her and Jack. If anything, childbirth had brought positive effects upon the couple, like Jack's peaked adoration for her expanded curves: things that grew during childbirth that are reserved purely for Jack's eyes alone.

Over the course of the years living in Port Royal, Sadie's popularity has grown through her interactions with Elizabeth and the parties often thrown at the Governors home with the small groups of women who do not find friendly private chatter rude or uncivilized. Many times a week at certain get-togethers, Sadie receives questions of Jack's civil demeanor, among more hushed up questions reserved for behind closed doors. But Sadie knows that even though their worlds have changed, the one piece of the puzzle that brought the two together still holds strong, despite popular belief. Jack's utter devotion to loving herself and their daughter is undeniably sweet and honorable, but Sadie knows it is a constant pain for Jack not to be out on the open ocean with the Pearl groaning proudly beneath his feet. The man's love for the sea is always evident, even when he does not speak of it. His very clothes are stained with the scent of the ocean, from the lapels of his coat to the soles of his boots.

But of course, there is always the red headscarf tied securely around Jack's brow at all times. Harper, Sadie remembers fondly, once asked how Papa had come by that headscarf, to which the man had looked at his partner and smiled, replying softly _"A little angel gave it to me." _

Yes, their love was no where near flameless yet.

Getting to her feet, Sadie calls out for Harper to come back, ruffling the sand from her skirts. Turning, she holds her hand out for Jack to take, only to find him staring up at her quite admirably, content to be sitting on the ground.

"What?" Sadie asks timidly, worried if there was something on her face. Jack beams.

"You're pretty!" Cries a little voice from behind, causing Jack and Sadie to both look at what had made the remark. Harper, standing by her mother's leg, giggles behind her hand. "Papa thinks Mama is pretty!" She says proudly, as if she just solved the question of life itself. Jack winks at his daughter. Getting on one knee, he holds a hand out to Harper who grins and takes it eagerly, shrieking when her father pulls her into a headlock and chafes his knuckles against the crown of her head.

"You said you wouldn't tell!" He growls, releasing his laughing child.

"I did!" Harper replies in her defense, folding her tiny arms. "You're just too obimus – obivimus…"

"_Obvious, _deary," corrects her pirate father, a finger pointedly aimed at her little nose. Harper gives Jack an innocent look before she nips at his outstretched finger and darting off towards the Turner's home. Chuckling to himself, Jack gets to his feet like Sadie and puts an arm around her waist, leading her down the shore, away from Harper's retreating form.

"We're not following Harper, Jack," says the woman next to him.

"She's just going to visit 'Lizbeth and the eunuch. She's probably there by now, anyways," he replies, not releasing his hold on Sadie. Without another word spoken, Jack leads his lady to the edge of the water, eyes locked on the horizon. Sadie calms, Jack's fingers lazily drawing circular patterns on her hip, and she leans into his side, putting a hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat.

"We haven't had a good moment to ourselves in a while, Jack," Sadie mutters, bringing her other hand down to clasp his. Jack glances down at their conjoined appendages and smiles, bringing them up to his lips and kissing her knuckles.

"Too true, love," he remarks just as quietly, not taking his eyes off Sadie's. She blushes at his stare and glances in another direction, clearing her throat.

"Unless you count all the times you've snuck me behind some dark corner and ravished me senseless, that is. Then we've had plenty."

Jack's hand pauses their ministrations. Turning to look at Sadie, a wicked flicker appears in his eyes.

"So you take into account the number of instances we've risked indecency in the public eye. How interesting to think I thought you completely untainted, love!"

Sadie rolls her eyes, releases Jack hands and begins to walk into the water.

"You haven't tainted me, Jack Sparrow!" She calls over her shoulder. "You've gotten me to be better at _living._"

"Flattery will get you nowhere, love!" He calls back, falling onto the sand. Ahead in the water, Sadie laughs, kicking the foamy waves into the air and opening her arms to allow the water to crash down upon her. As another wave nearly takes her out at the knees, Sadie turns to look at Jack rolling away to escape the water creeping closer to him.

"It doesn't bite, you know!" Sadie calls. Jack looks up from the sand with his arms sprawled at his sides.

"I know that! It is the simple fact that becoming saturated was not in my agenda of relaxingly dry stratagems. So getting wet seems partially contradictory, no?"

Sadie shakes her head, walking towards the man lying in the sand. Without a word, she takes the man by the wrist and pulls him into the ocean, letting out a conniving giggle. When the struggling pirate is completely submerged, Sadie jumps away and watches as Jack sits up in the water, clear rivulets streaming down his face. He opens his mouth to speak, but another wave crashes against the side of his head, knocking Sparrow under the waves ungracefully. Sadie guffaws and goes to escape, but a familiar hand seizes her ankle beneath the water, causing her to shriek and fall. She manages not to open her eyes under the water and she leaps back above the surface, gasping and shaking her head to safely clear her vision. When she opens her eyes, Sadie watches as Jack runs out of the sea, arms dancing, up the beach. Growling, Sadie makes her way out as well, ready to pummel the man already doubling back for her.

"Jack Sparrow!" She cries, fruitlessly trying to wring the water out of her dress. Jack skips up to her, takes her into his soaking arms and places a loud and lovingly wet kiss on her lips.

"Happy Anniversary, Sadie love!"

---

**Well, some plot and more fluff. You can't really go too wrong with _that,_ can you? LOL **

**Enjoy!   
Rachel**


	5. Shallow So That I Can Feel the Rain

**Good Morning, readers! I hope everyone has been having a wonderful January, and because of it being such a lovely Saturday, I decided to ring up a new chapter for you all! Can we hit the double digits with reviews on this one, maybe? **

_"There are names across the sea, only now I do believe, sometimes, with the windows closed, she'll sit and think of me." _

Iron & Wine Passing Afternoon

---

Dansen stirs from his restless slumber with a grunt of dissatisfaction, one hand reaching for the pistol under his makeshift pillow. Under the canopy of trees, he sits up from his bed of folded sheets and coats, taking in his surroundings with a cold, calculating gaze. The scenery is lit with the markings of sunrise, the dew dripping off the leaves of the trees and the horizon tinged a dull orange-pink. Dansen sighs heavily and drops his head back onto the pillow, shutting his eyes once more to allow for more, if much needed, sleep.

Hours later, when the sun is hot overhead, Dansen rouses himself from his dreamless state, his pistol still in his hand. Shaking his head, the man drops the gun onto the grass and rubs the sleep away from his eyes with the butts of his palms, groaning a little. The cold hard ground had been uninviting and unpleasant, to say the least. When Dansen pulls his hands away, he notices his black hair hanging limply around his face, the long tresses being pulled down by the weight of being unwashed. Dansen unsheathes his dagger from his side and begins sawing away at his hair, a careless mop of black replacing what used to be enviable dark locks. Tossing the excess away, Dansen gets to his knees and chafes the now bare back of his neck, snapping his head from side to side to pop the bones under the skin. He drops the dead weight of his head and sheathes his dagger, getting to his feet. Dansen reaches into his coat pocket, producing from it a leather pouch of tobacco and a few crumpled but otherwise unharmed sheets of rolling paper. Staring out the horizon, he rolls himself a perfect cigarette and places it between his lips while he kneels by his small campfire, poking around the embers. He places the cigarette against a hot coal and watches it light up before placing it back between his lips and taking a long relaxing drag. As Dansen exhales the calming smoke, he closes his eyes. The heat from the cigarette and the Caribbean sun beating down on him make him feel a little lightheaded. He sits back on his bed and continues to smoke, occasionally opening his mouth to let the cancerous fumes spill out and wreathe around his head. When the brown cigarette is nothing more than a stub, Dansen puts it out against a rock and massages the back of his neck, trying to release the extra tension there.

An hour later, Drake takes one last look at his camp, ascertaining that any possible passerby would not recognize that he had been there for the better part of a day. A new cigarette hangs between his lips, his leather satchel slung over his back and his coat hanging open. Dansen glances up angrily at the sun still tormenting him with her rays before turning away from the campsite. He drops the cigarette from his mouth and continues walking. As he begins to make his way out from underneath the cover of the palm trees, he does not notice the curling ring of smoke coming from behind, reaching up in the skies, nor the faint crackling noise of burning wood. He instead makes his way towards the shoreline some miles away, each step bringing him closer to his goals.

--

As Jack and Sadie, hand in hand, approach the Turner's manor, a tiny bullet of brown hair comes rushing out to meet them, an irrepressible grin splitting the heart-shaped face in two.

"Papa!" Their daughter cries, opening her arms. "Mama!"

Jack kneels on the gravel, bracing himself for impact. Harper Rose crashes into her father (still damp from the water fiasco) with full force, a gleeful shriek resonating in the air when he lifts her up with a gold grin.

"You been behaving then, Harpy?" Jack inquires, bringing his child close to his chest and giving her a questioning look, as if he won't believe her no matter what she says. Harper blushes, fumbling with her words.

"Well, I - but...Elliot won't played fair!" She finally cries with disdain. At Jack's confusion, Sadie giggles. He looks at her for answers, and she smiles that damned heart-warming, melt down into the boots smile and mouths the word 'bonny lad.' Jack's brows rise until they disappear under his headscarf, and then he chuckles, placing his daughter on the ground.

"Firstly, the correct grammatical usage in that sentence that you managed to slaughter despite your unbearable capabilities to be completely and unyieldingly adorable is 'Elliot will not play fair.' There's a difference."

"And since when were you a justified English teacher, Jack?" Comes another voice from the house ahead of them. Standing in the doorway are William and Elizabeth Turner, their six year old boy swinging from their hands and giving Harper a boyish glare, sticking his tongue out at her.

The comment had come from the young William, giving Jack the opportunity to make a comeback.

"And since when did you decide to start criticizing your superiors?" He asks.

"When my 'superior' never ceases to talk like a deranged drunk infant," William counters, a smug look on his face. Jack leers, jumping when Elliot launches himself at his knees.

"Uncle Jack!" He cheers, bubbling with the excitement every young lad should possess. Jack glances at the pale William and smirks.

"Brothers now, eh whelp?"

William mutters something along the lines of '_piss off,' _but it goes unnoticed.

"Tell me another story, Uncle Jack!" The boy whines, tugging on the pirate's trouser leg. With a groan, Jack lifts the boy from the ground and places him on his shoulders. He then takes Harper's little hand, the little girl equally excited to hear an amazing pirate tale from her father. As the Captain meanders away from the rest of the group towards the Turner's back yard, William, Elizabeth and Sadie watch on smiling.

"Come with me, Sadie," says Elizabeth, turning to the younger woman and taking her hand. Readily, Sadie agrees, allowing herself to be led towards whatever destination her friend had in store for her. William follows a ways behind into the house, his hands clasped behind his back. A chill wind blows through the trees, causing Will to shiver despite the heat still beating down on him. It had been blowing most of the day, giving William reason to wonder how Jack and Sadie managed being soaking wet still.

Stepping over the threshold into his home, William closes the door and makes his way in the direction of his study, ignoring the feminine giggles pouring out from Elizabeth's bedroom upstairs.

Outside, Jack and the children lie in the grass of the Turner's garden, arms spread wide with each of their heads around in a close circle looking up at the sky. Jack animatedly tells Elliot and Harper Rose the gruesome tale of Frederick Toadstool and the eighteen fingered dwarf. A rather adolescent story for a grown man to tell, but when being told by Jack Sparrow, an adventure in itself.

"And so, Toadstool, with his pet lobster and clay rifle in hand, launched himself at the evilly fiendish eighteen fingered dwarf with such terrifying ferocity that the wee man's spleen imploded and he flatulated it out of his rear end!" Jack cries, arms flapping in the air above their heads. Elliot turns onto his side to look at his 'uncle,' an unconvinced look on his boyish face.

"Uncle Jack," he said, Jack giving him a strange and confused look which made Harper burst into giggles, "There's no way a dwarf could blow his spleen out of his arse!"

"Language m'lad," Jack said pointedly, sticking a finger in Elliot's face. "And there is a way!" Jumping to his feet, Jack runs inside the house for all of two seconds, returning a moment later looking completely innocent and just the same as when he left. With his hands clasped behind his back, Sparrow calls Elliot to action. Once the boy is standing before the much taller pirate, Jack glares him down.

"Now, charge at me!"

"How?" Elliot asks innocently. Jack rolls his eyes.

"Like all the Navy is on your hells! Now charge at me!"

Like a bull about to charge, Elliot scuffs his bare feet against the grass, a little move Jack of course recognizes as a way to show off to his little daughter. The lad charges with a childish battle cry, arms raised as though he has a sword in his incapable hands. Jack makes frightened noises, carefully backing away. Elliot charges at his pirate uncle and Jack shrieks, allowing the boy to 'successfully' take him out at the knees. In the process he drops something from his hands and lands on his back a few feet away from whatever had been hidden in them on his back. Elliot jumps up when Jack releases a cry of pain.

"Uncle Jack! Are you okay, Uncle Jack?"

Groaning, Sparrow sits up, a hand on his side.

"I think I lost - oh dear..." He moans in agony, pointing at something lying in the grass a few feet away. Harper takes one look at it and screams.

"Papa's spleen!"

--

Upstairs in Elizabeth's room, Sadie lies on the wondrously soft bed, arms tucked behind her head.

"And you haven't told him yet?" She asks the woman standing by the window. Elizabeth turns and shakes her head.

"No, not yet. I barely just discovered it myself."

Sadie nods and gets up from the bed, walking over to her friend and wrapping her arms around her shoulders.

"It's funny," Elizabeth continues, both women now watching Jack and their children throw a steak at one another, "I had just found out that I was with Elliot when Jack arrived on our doorstep with you, and I was scared to think he had come to whisk us off on another escapade."

"Why didn't you tell Jack?"

"William said it would hurt him, even though we both knew he wouldn't admit it. Jack's always needed someone like you, Sadie, to even him out and make him whole. When I first saw you two together, and that look he got in his eyes when William hugged you for the first time, I knew. We both knew."

Sadie grinned and leaned her head against Elizabeth's, rocking their bodies back and forth on their feet.

"I'm so happy for you, Lizzy," she whispers, giving the older woman's shoulders a warm squeeze. "One day, we'll have another child, maybe more. But Harper is who really sealed Jack and I together, and I believe for now, that's all we need."

Nodding, her friend leans over and places a sisterly kiss on Sadie's temple with a smile.

--

William leans up from his comfortable position on the divan to see Elliot and Harper Rose thunder into the house, the little girl screaming "Kissy Tag! Kissy Tag!" over and over as they race past him into another room. Only a few moments later does Jack enter the room as well, picking off estranged pieces of grass from his hair and coat.

"Wild ones, they are," he proclaims, falling onto the sofa next to the younger man. William nods, putting his hands behind his head.

"Too true, Mister Jack."

The pirate looks around at William in surprise, eyes going wide.

"Hold on a moment there lad. Only Sadie gets to use _that _on me."

"Ah, but I haven't heard it said in so long, Jack!" William whines, batting his eyes. Jack's lip curls and he leans back, giving the man an incredulous look, then crossing his legs and folding his arms.

"Funny man you are, mate. Don't let it get to your head."

William rolls his eyes, leaning back against the sofa.

"Never thought on it, Jack," he replies, absentmindedly scratching his bent knee. "Besides, who could replace Sadie and her pet names?"

William watches as Jack goes still. He could have bet on his life that Sparrow actually stopped breathing for a moment. Jack turns his head to glare at the man, a muted look in his eyes. Disbelief?

"What?" He asks coldly, quietly, like something on the hunt. The younger man sits up, his hands raised in defense.

"A purely hypothetical question, I assure you, Jack. I meant _nothing _of it."

Seething in the direction of the whelp for a few more moments, Jack waits until he visibly wilts and looks away before getting to his feet in a rustle of sashes and belts and coins. William, still sitting on the couch, looks up at him warily, rubbing his palms together. Jack gives him one last sour look before turning away. He makes it to the front door of the house before turning and catching Williams' gaze.

"You ever breathe a word like that again, whelp," he hisses, more angered than he can remember, "And I'll kill you."

Taken aback but not surprised by the pirate's words, William stares as Sparrow leaves the house, slamming the door shut behind him. Above him, the man can hear footsteps coming from his wife's bedroom and down the stairs. Like an angel, Sadie appears at the foot of the steps, looking around no doubt for Jack. She notices the pale faced William sitting on the divan, looking at her. She smiles and goes over to him, taking the warm seat her pirate had just vacated. She gives her friend another warm smile, but it flickers when he doesn't return it.

"Will?" She asks, putting a hand over his. He looks at her again, the light of her smile never leaving her face despite the fact the actual action had already disappeared. Sadie's loveliness could easily be beyond anyone William had met in his life, almost surpassing that of his own beautiful wife. Something about the woman sitting next to him, so quietly, is ethereal and other-worldly, like an angel. Just like an angel.

William smiles at her weakly.

"You should go find Jack, Sadie. I miffed him quite a bit. It'd be best if you find him before he goes and does something stupid."

Sadie gazes at her distraught friend for a moment before closing her eyes and nodding. Without a word, she gets to her feet and makes her way out the door, tucking some loose hair behind one ear. When she closes the door, in a much gentler fashion than Sparrow had, William finally leans back against the divan. Something about Jack and Sadie's love is so pure, one can't look at it and not feel an overwhelming sense of envy. Even himself and Elizabeth couldn't match their love's caliber. Novels were written with one look at each other, and entire scriptures could be composed with one kiss. When ever they stand within a few feet of each other, they are always touching, whether it be Jack's calloused hand laced between Sadie's, or an entire arm wrapped around her waist. William had even caught the pirate fingering the woman's hair while they had been speaking to two different people, Jack not even giving rise to the thought that it was a rather obscure action. Sadie, as he remembers, had even leaned into the affectionate display, as if she were just as comfortable with it as he was.

What William never finds less than amazing is that Jack never even glances at other women anymore. It is as if Sadie swallows his entire field of vision. And then he always realizes, how could she not? A blind man can see that woman's beauty from a mile away. Their daughter, William knows, will be no exception. With Jack's dark hair and Sadie's eyes, and their conjoined wit, that little girl could grow up to be almost as beautiful as her parent's love itself.

Looking up at the ceiling, William sighs. Heaven help the poor soul who ever seeks to tear Jack Sparrow and Sattelle de Pearl apart.

--

**Well, there's chapter five! I hope you all enjoyed it, and look forward to a little more plot action coming up:)**


	6. Sleep Now In The Fire

**Again, I sincerely apologize. I just began a new novel (not a fanfic) two months ago, and it has completely taken control of my brain. But it let go long enough for me to get some more creative juices flowing so I could update this story for you all!!**

"_Any minute now I'm expecting all hell to break loose…"_

Bob Dylan Things Have Changed

---

Sadie makes her way down the shore, her bare feet sinking into the wet sand with every light step. A ways away, she can see her captain perched on a sand bank, legs crossed before him and his back hunched over, unruly hair whipping around in the warm breeze. Sadie grins to herself, trying to focus on keeping her dress off the sand.

_'Why is it,' _she thinks to herself, _'that after so many years, he can still make me giddy from a hundred yards away?' _Shaking her head, she knows that such a question goes without saying…

He's Captain Jack Sparrow.

As Sadie nears Jack's prone and solitary figure, now making her way up the dry sand, she releases the hem of her garment and pauses at the foot of the embankment. She sees his legs drawn up; his arms folded and resting on the curves of his knees and his head tucked between his elbows, shoulders steadily rising up and down with his breathing. Sadie puts a hand to her chest.

"Mister Jack?" She calls up to him, moving her hands to wring at her waist. The man looks down the sand at her standing, noticing the beautiful creature staring directly at him from the bottom of the small hill of sand. Uncurling his arms, Jack drops one onto the earth but holds the other out for her, his eyes closing. Sadie takes her skirts in her hands and makes her way up towards the pirate. One she reaches her partner she takes his outstretched hand and kneels before him, pleadingly staring for him to open his eyes. When he does, Sadie grins and nestles herself between his knees, comfortably wrapped now in his arms. With her head resting on Jack's shoulder, she lets a contented smile pass over her features, her hands making work of untangling his dreadlocks.

"Are you alright, Jack?" She asks quietly, not wanting to disrupt the comfortable silence. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore had lulled them both into a complete sense of relaxation. Jack nods slowly, wrapping one arm around Sadie's waist and bringing his leg up around her, making a sort of cocoon for his lady.

"I'm fine, love. William made a mention that didn't settle so well with me, so I left. Why?" He asks, turning his head to look at her. "Did I worry you?"

Sadie blinks, staring back at the man, before she averts her gaze and the corners of her lips turn upwards. "A little. I was also worried about William, just because of how pale he was when I saw him."

Jack tightens his hold on the woman, sighing and burying his face in her hair. He doesn't reply, content to just have her to him for now. What dear Mr. Turner had said had angered Jack at first, but then as he sat reflecting on the sand bank, the anger turned to fear. Fear at the very thought of not having Sadie around at every moment. The very idea of some lesser, unworthy woman with no heart and no joy or soul come into his life to take Sadie's place put more dread into Jack as when he saw her in the brig of Janetta's ship, nearly dead. Fear of never seeing her smile again, or to never have her in his arms at night in a passionate embrace.

Jack opens his eyes. He leans back and looks at the woman in question, staring right back at him, alive and beautiful. Her smile flickers when she notices his worry, the tightness in his jaw and the dark color his eyes take. Sadie pulls Jack's face to hers, trapping him in a kiss. The captain closes his eyes and exhales, tightening his hold on the woman. Somehow, she alone always knows his every pain, thought, and understands how to cure him of such things. Burying a hand in Sadie's hair, Jack keeps their mouths locked, taking too much pleasure from the contact. Sadie calms the action and slowly pulls away, opening her eyes and smiling.

"Your eyes always give you away, Jack," she says, her fingertips caressing his eyelids, some kohl coming off on her fingerprints. "They go dark when you think of bad things happening to me, but when you think about me the rest of the time, they turn the color of melted chocolate. And when you think of Harper Rose, they glitter and smile."

Jack chuckles and rests his brow against Sadie's as she continues, watching her eyes glimmer as she speaks.

"When I was a little girl on that old man's fishing boat with you, your eyes were so cold, like you didn't have any idea how to love anything other than your ship." With another smile, Sadie places a hand on the crown of Jack's head, stroking the red headscarf, now so faded that it resembles that of pink rose. "I gave this to you in hopes you would smile a smile that would reach your eyes."

The pirate grins reflexively, tucking some of the woman's hair behind her ear.

"Well, you caught me in a corner, love," he replies. Sadie beams back at him, a light laugh falling past her lips into the dusky air.

"As I damn well should have, Sparrow! I don't think you recall just how cute I was when I was that young."

"Oh, I quite recall how fiendishly adorable you were, pet, but I also distinctly recollect the absolution that _you _were _fantastically boring._"

At this, Sadie rolls her eyes.

"Only because if you weren't asleep, you were throwing sheets to the wind every waking moment! I had nothing else to do save be boring!"

Jack bows his head in shame.

"I yield," he sighs, glancing at the glaring woman out of the corner of his eye. Sadie flicks him on the side of the head, and in turn, Jack smirks, turning his head to fully look at her. He watches as she visibly swallows when she notices the look in his eyes. "Ah youth," he mutters as the arm around Sadie's waist tightens, bringing her within much closer proximity of his mouth. Whilst Jack distracts his woman by teasing her with light kisses around her mouth, his other hand begins to sneak its way up her leg. Sadie's eyes flutter closed at the feeling of the coarseness of Jack's hand on her thigh, and she lays a shaking hand on the back of his neck to pull him in to a full on battle of their mouths. At her audacity Jack smirks again, leaning into her slight body just enough to push her back into the sand. She looks up at the man hovering over her, her wispy skirts falling past her thighs and trickling out onto the sand. As the cooler night air rushes past her bare skin, Sadie arches her head back, allowing Jack's mouth to attach to her throat.

"I love you, Jack…" She whispers.

- -

Peter fingers the citrine pearl in his dirtied hand, staring out at the ocean stretching miles before his eyes. The setting sun marks his fifth day since receiving the little trinket from the witch in London. He had taken a day to ask around for her, but the effort had been well wasted and yielded nothing. Now, he and his partner Yasef take refuge on a ship bound for the Caribbean, where Peter has had his sights set for some time. Somewhere, in the blue waters going on for miles sails the _Black Pearl, _and on her lives Sadie, his beautiful Sattelle. If she still loves Jack, he muses, then perhaps the gift the witch gave him will change her mind.

Peter clasps the pearl in his first and turns away from the rail of the vessel, wandering towards the mess hall below deck. At the main mast Yasef greets him, following the younger man down into the belly of the ship.

"How long until we reach port, Codney?" He asks, stepping into the galley behind Peter who greets the fellow sailors in the room with a curt nod and nothing more. As Peter and Yasef take their seats towards the back of the rocking galley, each with their own bowl of gruel, Peter finally replies.

"Another three days, at least," he says, glancing around at the men who blatantly ignore him. "Then we find the _Pearl, _and Sadie."

Yasef gazes at his partner warily, noticing the dark gold hue of his hazel eyes – the kind of look he acquires when his mind wanders, thinking of his revenge on the _Black Pearl's _captain.

"And Sparrow?" He asks carefully, having no desire to anger his friend. Friend, of course, being a term used lightly. Peter smirks and uncurls his fist, revealing the citrine pearl. Holding the object just before his eyes, he tilts his head to watch the sparkle of the citrine core.

"Jack Sparrow," he says mutinously, not masking the loathing in his tone, "Jack Sparrow will die."

--

A relief washes over Drake Dansen as the sight of Port Royal comes into his view. Five days of paddling in his long boat, completely alone out at sea, and things were beginning to appear as though he would never see land again. A part of him wishes he would just die out there, but it is cancelled out by the provocative thought of the deaths of many, many women.

Upon docking, Dansen easily squanders his way past the Naval officers and into town, his legs unsteady on dry land. Around him people whisper of a small Caribbean island not far away that had been burned of all vegetation, leaving only a small spit of sand and nothing else. Dansen realizes it was the island he had been staying on during his escape, and that his cigarette had caused all the unrest. He almost laughs at the thought of such a thing. The town is bustling and alive, causing dirt to kick up in the streets and the shadows to become welcome relief from the hot sun.

Dansen steps into a tavern, clutching a sack of coins he acquired from a kind passerby just outside, and makes his way towards the barkeep currently wiping away any grime on a shot glass. The older man looks up from his duty when Dansen clears his throat, pushing three pound across the bar.

"I'll be staying in one of the rooms upstairs. I ask no one disturb me," is all he says before turning away in a flutter of black, like a dark specter. The barkeep watches on as the figure disappears up the stairs and into a room, the grim man slamming the door shut behind him. The old haggard barman shakes his head and goes back to cleaning his mugs. Upstairs, Dansen removes his long heavy coat and unfurls it across the crudely made bed, shrugging his shoulders of the weight of his sword holster. Once any superfluous items are lying on the floor, he wanders over to the window to look out on the town, his handsomely carved face like a brooding overseer. Dansen runs a long fingered hand through his cropped hair, leering at his reflection at the feel of its greasiness. He forgot how long it had been since he last took a real, cleansing bath.

A knock on the door causes Drake to turn on his heel sharply, his hand deftly reaching for his pistol lashed to his hip. He approaches the door slowly, eyes narrowed.

"Who's there?" He demands.

"Put the gun away, Dansen. It's Morgan."

A washing sense of dread falls over the man at the name. As told, he places the pistol back in its holster, taking the doorknob into his hand, turning it, and opening the door to reveal a shocking sight of a man.

"Morgan," Drake nods in acknowledgment. "How'd you come by me?"

The man he spoke to was not entirely feeble in stature, nor obviously dimwitted. He was quick to reply.

"I've my ways, Dansen. Aren't you going to let me in?"

Dansen was not one to flit and play cat and mouse with such a man. Morgan was a force to reckon with. He says nothing, only stands to the side and motions for his visitor to enter the room. Before he can, the barkeep from downstairs calls out to the new man.

"Mind tellin' me your name there, mate?" Morgan turns in the doorway, looking down at the old man.

"Morgan Salis."

The barkeep seems to ponder for a moment, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Morgan goes to enter the room, but is stopped again by the old man's voice calling out to him.

"Salis...ain't that the name of the lass who up and died back in England? Yeah, saw her face on some Wanted posters along with the guy they think killed her. Sorry for your loss, mate."

Morgan sneers and says nothing in reply, stepping over the threshold into Dansen's room and slamming the door shut behind him. Inside, Drake turns and looks visibly perturbed at the sight of Morgan's lividness.

"Now, Dansen. You going to tell me what happened to my little sister now? Or am I going to have to use more extreme measures to wheedle it all out of you?"

Dansen shakes his head and pulls up a chair for his visitor by the burning hearth, his eyes pleading for some small ounce of mercy. Against Morgan Salis, there is only compliance, or death.

"I'll tell you everything," he says, offering a pre-rolled brown cigarette, which Morgan accepts, "if you help me."

Morgan pauses, searching Dansen's gaze for any falsehoods, and upon finding none, leans back in his seat after lighting up.

"You tell me _everything_ I need to know, and I'll see about helping you."

Drake smirks, also leaning back and releasing a cloud of smoke into the already stifling air.

"Perfect."

---

**There you have it! Another chapter down. Enjoy! **

**Rachel**


	7. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

**How 'bout a bug HUZZA! for such a quick update??? You're all gems.**

"_Après moi le déluge." _

_After me comes the flood._

Regina Spektor – Après Moi

---

Jack sits up from bed, covered in a cold sweat, his breathing shallow. Frantically, he turns and pulls the sheets back from the bed, revealing the slumbering figure of Sadie, her hair fanned about her head like a halo. Jack, eyes wide from fright, drops the sheet and places his hand against his heart beating in a mad tattoo. At his side, Sadie murmurs something and blinks awake, struggling against the desire to go back to sleep. Something was wrong with Jack. She sits up and immediately notices Jack's heavy breathing, the white sheets pooling in his lap and his knuckles white from clutching the mattress in a deathly grip. Sadie tries to say his name to shake him out of it, but to no avail. Roughly, she plants both hands on either side of the man's face, turns him towards her and bites his lower lip. Jack instantaneously yelps and shakes his head, looking at his woman dumbly.

"What'd you do that for, then?"

Sadie gives him an incredulous look.

"Jack, you looked like you couldn't even breathe for a moment! I had to snap you out of it! It could have been worse."

At this remark, the pirate pauses. He closes his eyes and smirks, dropping his shoulders. Silence overtakes the room, save for the sound of rustling as Sadie moves behind Jack. He sighs, reveling in the warmth of her naked embrace, the silky tickle of her hair against his back and shoulders and neck.

"I thought I told you never to scare me like that again, Jack," she whispers, her arms wrapped around his chest and her legs on either side of his hips, keeping him from moving. Not that he would want to. Jack nods, placing a hand on Sadie's forearm.

"Apologies, love. Just a bad dream is all."

He knows without having to look that Sadie is giving him _that look _again.

"Jack, you were drenched in sweat, you were gripping onto the sheets for dear life, and you almost weren't breathing – forgive me if I'm being over observant, but that seems more than 'just a bad dream' to me."

She got him cornered with no way out. Jack smiles and lolls his head back, turning it just enough to look into Sadie's eyes. Her sincere worry, however, throws him off. His smile falters and the hand on her arm tightens. Without a word, Jack leans back up and twists himself around to face her, burying his free hand in her hair. He sighs and casts his gaze to the sheets twisted in his lap.

"You got taken from me."

He looks into Sadie's eyes again – those big blue depths that never ceased to enrapture him and never let him go. She blinks once, twice, and then kisses him. Jack's eyebrows disappear underneath the red bandana, but his fingers stiffen at the back of her neck, pulling her mouth harder against his, lacing the kiss with the dread and the pain and the sorrow he had felt in the dream. His lower lip is still sore from her biting him, but Jack easily could take that than losing her any day. Pulling away, Sadie caresses the side of Jack's face with her soft knuckles, unknowingly passing them over a small white scar left from Peter Codney's fist.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" She says, maneuvering her fingertips over every inch of his face. Jack nods, releasing a breath. He feels the cool wind blowing in from the open door leading out to the veranda. Sadie leaves a kiss on his cheek and begins to slide out of bed, whispering something about getting some water for him. Jack watches as his moonlit woman crosses the room to the wardrobe, removing a heavy red silk robe and pulling it on. Jack smiles.

"That one's mine."

Sadie winks back at him and leaves the room still tying the belt around her waist. As she passes from sight, Jack's face falls and he, too, slides out of bed and goes to the wash basin sitting on the table across the room, splashing water in his face and resting his hands on the table top, letting the liquid drop loudly back into the bowl. Looking into the mirror, Jack stares back at his reflection for a moment, a flicker of anger appearing in his dark eyes.

"Like hell," he husks, turning away and crawling back into bed in time before Sadie appears in the doorway, holding a glass of water in her hands. She walks over to Jack and sits at his side, handing him the glass. He quietly thanks her and takes it, closing his eyes as he drinks. Sadie watches, amorously, his Adam's apple move up and down as he swallows. The way his fingers grip the glass. She stares as he pulls it away from his mouth, leaving a dribble of water hanging from his already abused lower lip. Sadie beats him to the punch, kissing Jack before he can wipe it away with his hand. She was no match for the man's appeal, no matter how hard she ever tried. Jack always knew this.

Realizing his hand is still hanging in midair, the pirate brings it down to begin untying his robe from Sadie's body, enjoying the chance to be able to slip his own clothing off of her.

"You've got a knack for seducing a man, love," he says, nuzzling her weak spot, just beneath her ear. Sadie crumples in his hands, the robe falling to a puddle of red silk on the floor, forgotten. She watches as Jack places his empty glass on the floor as well, pulling the sheets over their bodies as he makes his way to her side again. Together they lay on the mattress, Jack fiddling with each of Sadie's slender fingers. There is an angelic quality to a woman who has given everything, and yet nothing at all, bestial as well as euphoric. Jack slips an arm under Sadie's head and his other over her waist, relishing the feel of her against him. No dresses, no belts, nothing but the skin they were born with. Sadie rests her hand against the man's heart, smiles, and closes her eyes.

"This is all," she whispers, and drifts to sleep.

- - -

The two ominous figures of Peter Codney and his cohort, Yasef, meander down the length of the gangplank towards the docks of Port Royal; each with a pistol, a cutlass, and their wits about him. The sun is high overhead, marking noon of that particularly balmy day. Peter tucks the pearl into a tiny leather pouch, cinching it closed and pocketing it. Yasef merely looks ahead, trying to distinguish the names of taverns of Port Royal. English not being his first language, he tends to rely heavily on the aid of his younger half.

"There," he says, pointing a finger at a tavern sandwiched between an antiques shop and a butchers meat market. The sign swinging on it reads _'Vacancy' _and nothing else. Peter casts a glance at it, but makes no immediate move to scurry inside with his treasure and his fellow man.

"We wait," he says, walking past. Yasef for a moment finds himself confused, but realizes that if Peter, already well unkempt and receiving some distasteful glares, appears out of nowhere and immediately scurries into a shack of an inn, some hackles could be raised. After all, Port Royal was no Tortuga. If any suspicions arose due to the two of them, the Navy would be on their heels in moments.

Yasef follows the younger man through town, pretending to be interested in imports and trade items, when all that appeals to him is the thought of a nice mattress and a good toss with a lass. He knows of course that Peter's mind is on much more distant matters, most primarily being Sadie and where to find her.

"Yasef," comes the young man's harsh voice, "go find us a change of clothes."

Yasef stands in the middle of the dirt street for a moment, staring at Peter's back incredulously. Peter is often demanding, yes, but _orders? _When the younger man says nothing and continues walking, Yasef releases a deep breath and his shoulders drop in defeat. Without a word he turns away, walking towards the first boutique he sees.

_Whatever dignity I have left, _he muses bitterly, _I'm going to spend on a harlot tonight. _

- - -

Dansen rolls his cigarette between his thumb and forefinger, glaring at the floor. The subject of his beloved Alessandra is a thin line between sorrow and hate, and he finds it difficult to describe the situation to her older brother, sitting no more than four feet away from him. Staunch must be the most fitting word for the man. He stands a few inches shorter than Dansen, but is twice as heavy in muscle. Dansen often likes to think him a bull – a rare white bull with a heady passion for the red flag: quickest to anger, hardest to defeat.

At that moment, Morgan feels no need for delays. With a dead sister and the navy at his heels, he wants nothing more than for Dansen to talk, and talk quickly and thoroughly.

"Drake, I've got no time for your musings."

Dansen takes a drag from his cigarette and nods.

"I'll start from the beginning." He taps the cigarette and ignores the ashes falling to the ground. "I intended to wed Alessandra, back in England. But I wanted to give her something better than a wedding ring, so I searched out a witch – one recommended me by acquaintances from a local tavern. I sought her out and found her, hidden in the forests in the hills. I never knew there were swamps in England…"

Morgan leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Continue."

Drake takes another drag.

"I asked her for something that would prove myself worthy to Alessandra, and she showed me numerous things – necklaces, brooches, rings, keys…all of them were worthless. Then she showed me something she said was reserved only for those desperate enough to have it. A pearl, the size of a grape," he made the figure with his hand, "with a core of citrine that can only be seen when held up to the sun."

"You were going to give it to Alessandra?"

"Yes." Dansen lowers his gaze and sighs, shaking his head. "The witch said I had to kill someone for her in order to obtain the citrine pearl. I did so. I killed the man who was looking for her, apparently on a revenge hunt for her. She never told me why he was. When I returned for the pendant, she warned me that it would take the life of any soulless woman, but I felt no reason to believe her."

"Alessandra-"

"Was a beautiful soul. The witch gave me the pendant and I went to Alessandra. I gave her it, and for the briefest of moments she seemed truly happy. That is, until…"

"She died."

Dansen nods, putting the cigarette out on the side of his chair. The room falls into silence for a moment, until Morgan sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose in agitation.

"So you killed her."

"I did no such thing!" Dansen cries, jumping to his feet. "I loved her more than any man! It was the witch! I went back to find her and kill her for what she did, but when I went back to her hut in the swamps, she was gone. Her cat stole the pendant from me, and now I have no dire idea of where it could be."

"You _lost _the damned thing that _killed my sister!_" Morgan exclaims in distress. Dansen is quick to react, putting a hand on the man's shoulder.

"I will get it back, one way or another."

Morgan gives the other man an incredulous look, eyes narrowed.

"You had better do so, if you wish to save your own skin." Morgan leans back and rubs his temples. "Now. What is it you want of me?"

Dansen's eyes glimmer in cunning, realizing that the moment had come for him to twist the situation to his advantage.

"I want your assistance in exacting revenge against the witch. In return, I will pay you whatever sum you ask of me."

Morgan seems to mull over this in his head for a moment, when a loud voice erupts from downstairs.

"We don't board people like _you!" _Comes the livid voice of the bartender. Dansen gets from his seat and tells Morgan to stay where he is, sneaking over to the door and opening it. Through the crack, he listens to the heated conversation going on below him.

"Sir, he's with me. He means no harm to you or your…_establishment," _comes a younger voice, considerably less angry. Dansen leaves his room and walks over to the railing overlooking the empty foyer. Two men are before Bradley, the barkeep, who is in turn in a glaring contest with the darker skinned man.

"I don't board men like him."

"So I ask you for one night to hang your prejudice and allow us to stay here."

Dansen becomes quickly disinterested and goes to turn away, but the next words out of the youngest man's mouth catch him by surprise.

"We're in possession of something very precious, and we cannot allow it to fall into the wrong hands."

Dansen turns around to see Morgan staring at him, in surprise and suspicion. Had fate given them their chance, dumping it right in their laps? Dansen turns to listen again.

"One night," says Bradley, grudgingly. "That's all I'll allow. There's a room upstairs, number 13."

Dansen looks quickly at his own room number – number 12. He smiles wickedly and sneaks back inside, closing the door behind him with a soft _click. _

"What do you think?" Comes Morgan's curious voice from behind.

"I believe," comes the dangerous reply, "that our task just got _much _easier for the both of us."

- - -

Sadie awakes the next morning; loathe peeling her body from Jacks. But by the sound of rustling and scuffling outside their door, Harper was already awake and ready for her. Sadie slips out of bed and puts her Captain's robe on once again, goes to the door and opens it. Harper looks up at her from below, a broad grin on her early-morning face.

"Good morning, mama!" She says, holding her hands up. Sadie beams, albeit tiredly, and takes her daughter into her arms.

"Good morning, Harper. Did you sleep well?"

At this question Harper's hand pauses in mussing her mother's hair. Sadie looks down at her daughter, a fine eyebrow raised. Harper stumbles over her words for a moment before sighing.

"I had a bad dream."

"Oh?" Sadie replies, walking down the stairs towards the kitchen. Jack would appear when he smelled the food in a quarter of an hour. "What of?"

"There were a bunch of scary men in a room, and they were all talking about bad things."

Sadie's eyes flicker briefly.

"Bad things?"

Harper nods, snuggling closer into her mother's embrace. "They said 'revenge' and 'kidnap' and…"

At Harper's pause, Sadie feels herself becoming worried. She makes Harper look at her.

"And what, Harper Rose?"

"I heard a name," she replies meekly. "I thought it was funny, because it's like a fish."

Sadie smiled, but was more concerned about what her daughter had heard.

"What was the name that you heard, love?"

Harper pauses, fidgeting with her tiny fingers, as though she is worried that if she says the name, her mama will get mad.

"Codney."

- - -

**Well, there you have it! Enjoy, and PLEASE review!!**

**Rachel**


	8. A Ring of Fire

I owe this to you all. Never in my wild imagination would I have considered earning 83 reviews in seven chapters. You're all gems!

As another note – I've seen AWE three times already!! I LOVE IT! I'm going to keep writing this as it is, not taking into account the whole Captain Turner issue, etc.

"_She takes just like a woman. Yes she does, she makes love like a woman. Yes she does, and she aches just like a woman. But she breaks just like a little girl." _

Bob Dylan Just Like a Woman

- - -

Morgan watches from his seat by the hearth as Drake invites the newcomer into their room, eyeing the young bloke from behind a cloud of cigarette smoke. The visitor's second hand, Yasef, is sent to the other room with a harsh reprimand. Peter Codney enters the stifling room with the two older men, sizing them up with curiosity and fear.

"What do you want with me?" He asks Drake as he is led to a chair drawn up for him. Drake sits himself next to Morgan, taking a drag from his own cigarette.

"We want your help." Drake never believed in beating around the bush. He gives Peter a sly smile before leaning forward, casually slumping his shoulders. "This man's beloved younger sister is dead, and we both want revenge."

"Who was she to you?" Peter asks. Drake glares and sits back, becoming lost in the shadows and smoke.

"She was my fiancé-to-be," he replies grimly. Peter nods and Morgan speaks up from nearby.

"We understand you have something in your possession. Something dangerous."

Peter chokes on his own words for a moment, trying to remain composed. "I wouldn't say dangerous…"

Drake gets up from his seat and goes over to Peter, grasping his wrists and wrenching them from the boy's pockets. A small object falls from the boy's hand and Morgan dives for it frantically, taking it into his fist. Drake releases Peter and steps away from him.

"This is what we're looking for," Drake hisses as Morgan opens his hand to reveal what lay inside. Peter's face flushes and he stumbles over to take it back, but Morgan steps away and thrashes the boy across the face with his fist. Peter lands on the ground in a jumbled mess, clasping the side of his face. The man's fist was like an anvil. Drake leans over Peter a moment later, causing the young man to jump and back up against the wall.

"We don't want to hurt you, lad," the man says, revealing the citrine pearl between his fingertips. "We want to find the woman who gave you this and kill her, and any other woman who happens to come across it and live."

"Why?"

"Because it killed my sister, that's why!" Cries Morgan from the other side of the room. Both Drake and Peter glance over at him. Drake turns back and holds the pendant closer to the boys face, glaring him down.

"We'll pay you to help us, and offer passage to wherever you need to go."

Peter falters over his words for a moment, trying to organize his thoughts. If he went anywhere with these men, either his life would be endangered or spectacularly guarded. This could be his one chance to get Sadie back with a small entourage of men to protect him from Jack Sparrow. He looks up into Drake's cold, sea green eyes and holds out his hand.

"What do you need to know?"

- - -

Jack paces back and forth in his study, still swaggering around despite not being on the sea. Sadie is seated behind his desk in his chair, following his movements with a worried stare.

"Are you sure she's sure?" Jack asks, not making eye contact, instead opting to chew at his fingernails.

"Jack, we've been over this a hundred times! Harper said that a man named 'Codney' was planning something. It can only be Peter, Jack."

Jack pauses at the wall, pulling his hand away and looking at it for a moment before turning and marching over to Sadie. He places both hands on either side of her, locking her in. Sadie watches as he closes his eyes and leans his brow against her shoulder. She smiles, turning her lips to his ear.

"It's alright, Jack," she says quietly. "It's not like anything is going to happen to Harper or myself. We've got you, and William, and Elizabeth. We're perfectly well protected."

Jack leans back and looks into Sadie's eyes, searching them for whatever nervousness may be dampening her resolve. Seeing none, he leans forward and kisses her lingeringly, keeping her arms pinned to the chair.

"Besides," she says as he pulls away for a brief moment, "You taught me everything I know. Especially self-preservation." Jack smiles at this. Sadie gets up from the chair with his help, and the two of them leave the study hand in hand. Harper meets them in the garden outside, naïve to their worry. Sadie leaves Jack's side to go play with their daughter, allowing the man to think. A nervous feeling had punched him in the gut at the mention of Peter Codney's sordid name, and the fact that his young daughter had had the premonition was disheartening enough. Gibbs, upon sailing off with the _Pearl_, had told him that Peter was somewhere still in England. But it did nothing to settle his nerves. Jack winces and looks down at the ground beneath his boots. Not only does he have Sadie to worry about, but his daughter as well.

Sadie looks up from her game with her daughter to see Jack standing, contemplating, and biting at his nails again. She turns to Harper Rose and tucks a strand of dark brown curly hair behind the girl's ear.

"You go on ahead and play, love," she says, giving Harper a smile. The child grins back at her and runs off. Sadie gets to her feet and walks over to Jack, the hem of her off-white dress scuttling along the grass. She comes up before her captain and stares at the top of his head for a while before sighing and tipping his chin up with her index finger.

"You're doing it again," she says as soon as Jack meets her gaze. Jack's upper lip rises and he teeters backwards in defensiveness.

"Doing what? I'm not doing anything." He begins to walk away muttering obscurities, but Sadie catches him by the wrist and pulls him back. Jack is caught unawares as she immediately attaches her mouth to his. His brows disappear beneath his headscarf, and then he notices her hand and its brave placement. Jack's eyes flutter close as returns Sadie's fervor, pushing them back around a large tree nearby in his attempt not to ravish the woman there in the grass. Sadie's hand removes itself, and instantaneously he misses it.

"That was rather impetuous of you, love," he grinds out as the unrelenting woman begins making work of his neck. The hand returns, and Jack grins. "Not like I'm complaining or anything necessarily similar or any such nonsense." Jack closes his eyes and realizes, with a faint feeling of glee, that if there was any way he ever wanted to be knocked to his senses, doing inappropriate things in inappropriate places with the only woman he ever loved is exactly what he'd have chosen.

- - -

Peter walks into his room to find Yasef by the fireplace, poking at a log with a bored look on his face.

"What's the plan, then?" He asks as Peter removes his coat and throws it on the bed. His flintlock pistol falls out onto the sheets. "Do we make any moves?" Peter grasps it and notices it's already cocked and ready to be fired. Yasef remains seated by the fire, unnoticing.

"I am going to Port Royal with those two men," Peter says, reaching for a pillow off the bed. He aims the barrel behind the pillow and approaches his comrade from behind. "We will go after Sadie, and Sparrow, and I will be paid for my services in their mission."

"And I will stay here and await your return?" Yasef asks. The room goes quiet for a moment.

"No," Peter replies, the muffled barrel directly pointed at the back of Yasef's head. "You have already outlived your usefulness."

- - -

Morgan and Drake are waiting outside the inn as Peter descends the stairs, throwing money at the old man behind the bar as he hurriedly pulls on his coat.

"I apologize for the mess," the young man says as he flies out the door. The three men take to the alley way, Peter slipping his gun into his sash.

"I make for Port Royal," says Morgan breathlessly as the three approach the docks. Drake rushes ahead for his boat. "And you're coming with me," he says to Peter. The younger man nods.

"Aye. And Drake?"

"He has his means."

The dark figure of Drake Dansen signals to the two others to get into the small boat, and Morgan grasps Peter by the shoulder before he runs off. The staunch bulk of a man glares him down, and Peter barely manages to not cower.

"I'll kill you if you try anything funny," Morgan growls. Peter pushes the man's hand off his shoulder before holding his hand out.

"Wouldn't dream of it, mate," he counters as the two shake on it.

- - -

**This one is rather short, I'm sorry. But I'm trying to move the plot along at a timelier pace. A reader asked me to chart the characters, as well. So I suppose I'll do that now before I forget!! **

_Captain Jack Sparrow – well…duh._

_Sattelle de Pearl – life partner of aforementioned. _

_Harper Rose Sparrow – their daughter._

_Drake Dansen – the misbegotten lover of Alessandra Salis, out for revenge against the witch who wronged him and any woman who lives to receive the Citrine Pearl._

_Morgan Salis – Alessandra's older brother, co-conspirator in league with Drake._

_Peter Codney – old nemesis of Captain Jack for trying to steal Sadie from underneath him; wants Sadie for his own once and for all and in league with Drake and Morgan to get her back._


	9. Burning Bridges

**You all rock beyond comprehension. I've said this before, but never, **_**NEVER, **_**in my wildest dreams would I have believed that I would get almost 100 reviews in eight chapters. You make my life worthwhile. **

**In the meantime, my dears…**

_"When I'm cold inside, you are warm and bright, you know you are so good for me…"_

KT Tuntstall – Universe & U

- - -

Sadie awakes an hour before the coming of dawn the next morning, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. As she leans up, a hand falls away from her bare shoulder, landing loudly on the mattress next to her leg. She turns and looks from the fingertips, past the branded wrist, up the bronze forearm, over the relaxed bicep, around the curvature of the shoulder, to Jack Sparrow's face, satiated and almost child-like in its peace. Sadie beams despite the early morning hour, curling her own fingers under Jack's, giggling when the digits twitch and the man mutters something incoherent, probably relative to herself, Harper or the _Pearl. _Sadie removes her hand from beneath Jack's and slips out of bed, stealing the comatose man's robe once again.

She pads out of their bedroom and down the corridor, tying the sash around her waist. After stealing a glance over her shoulder at Harper's bedroom door, Sadie steals down the staircase and crosses over to Jack's study, opening the small door and going inside. She takes a moment to reminisce before finding her own personal dagger on the wall next to her partner's sword. She tucks it somewhere inside the robe and leaves the dark study, closing the door shut behind her. Sadie makes light work of escaping the house from the back door, cutting across the grass and past the bushes towards her secret trail. Grass quickly becomes sand beneath Sadie's feet as she weaves her way over a few small hills, her long strides bringing her to her destination that much faster.

At last the trail ends in a precipice overlooking Wanderer's Cove, with the sea stretching out miles upon miles out before Sadie's blue gaze. The waves crashing against the rocks melodically bring in the sunrise, coaxing the yellow face from her slumber. Sadie watches, with one hand over her heart, as the sun creeps up and over the horizon, painting the sky a fluorescent magenta and orange. A billow of wind whips the hem of Jack's robe around Sadie's bare feet, causing her to smile. The sunrise swathes the ocean in colors, as well as the few early morning clouds lingering in the air. This was the place Sadie went to watch the sunrise, if ever the mood stuck her. With all of Jack's worrying at home and Harper's incessant childishness, Sadie wanted a welcome relief.

As the sun continues to ascend the horizon, Sadie sits on the lone sandy patch overlooking the Cove and removes her dagger, lazily drawing waves and stars in the fine grains with its tip. With her gaze directed at her art, Sadie begins to sing; a chantey that she and Jack composed using her favorite poem by Donne.

"_Go and catch a falling star_

_Get with child a mandrake root _

_Tell me, where all the past years are,_

_Or who cleft the Devil's foot. _

_Teach me to hear Mermaid's singing_

_Or to keep off envy's stinging_

_And find_

_What wind _

_Serves to advance an honest mind." _

Sadie looks up at the sky again, smiling in the bask of the hot orange glow. She remembers that day when she and Jack created the music to go along with the poem, and how he so fondly told her how beautiful her voice was, and still is. Sometimes, he makes her sing it to him at night after their weak and sweaty bodies entangle under the sheets to lull both of them to sleep. It is one of the thousands of things that provide the woman with all the joy in her life with Jack. Small intricacies that only the two of them will ever understand.

Sadie gets to her feet some time later, brushing sand off her. She tucks the dagger back into the robe and makes for her home, humming the chantey quietly. Beneath her, tucked in the shadows of Wanderer's Cove, bobs the dingy holding Peter Codney and Morgan Salis above water.

- - -

Jack wakes when a small, warm little body curls up in his arms. Blearily, his eyes open to see a familiar head of dark ringlets and small hands playing with the rings on his fingers. Jack smiles into his daughter's hair and closes his eyes once again, pulling her closer against his chest. Harper giggles and plays with the frayed ends of her father's wrist adornments, counting each little stripe and string. It is moments like these that Jack lives for; or rather, continued to live his ridiculous life with all of its ups and downs (sometimes literally) to reach moments like this.

Jack yawns and caresses the back of Harper's fragile little head, opening his palm for her to place her own hand against it. His long, spidery fingers easily overwhelm hers, and the contrast of skin tones is blatant. Harper giggles once again, tracing Jack's lifelines in his palm with one petite digit of her own.

"This one means you're going to live forever," she says, Jack nodding even with his eyes closed. "And this one means you've already lived through lots of big adventures. Well that's obivimus, Papa _is _a _pirate…_" Jack chuckles and sits up, Harper shrieking in glee and surprise.

"I thought I told you that it's pronounced _ob-vi-ous, _pet. I won't have my daughter speaking like some common scoundrel."

Harper struggles to turn in her father's lap, and when she does, the two look into each other's eyes, Harper with the defiance only a four year old can muster, and Jack with a certain '_je ne sais quoi'. _

"Alright then," she says with a certain recalcitrant tone: "I presume that my most endearing of parents has the highest paramount knowledge of the English language and all of its emblazoned properties, most notably the use of vowels and consonants while speaking amongst his acquaintances and other such proprietary sorts, without any query whatsoever." And, as a little dash of homage, she ads: "Savvy?"

Jack's eye twitches before he looks over to the open door of his bedroom and shouts "Sadie!! Get this insufferable hell-child away from me!"

- - -

Sadie walks into her house to discover Harper Rose running around the ground floor, brandishing her father's hat like a flag, whilst Jack storms after her, arms outstretched yelling "Give me my hat back you mangy whelp!" Sadie immediately intervenes, grabbing Harper around the waist, causing the little girl to wheeze and drop the tricorn, at which Jack seizes his chance and dives for it, landing hard on the floor at Sadie's feet. He laughs in glee, hugs the old leather thing to him, and begins rolling on his back.

"My hat!" He cries in joy. Sadie rolls her eyes and steps over her ridiculous man and takes her daughter into the kitchen to feed them all.

"What have you done to your poor father, Harper?" Sadie asks, setting the child on the table. She begins to cut up ripe strawberries from her garden.

"I just said what you told me to say to Papa if he ever questions my vocaburary."

"_Vocabulary, _pet," says Jack as he too enters the kitchen, placing his hat on the hook by the door. "And yes, this _oh so endearing _child played a rather fast one on me, as it were."

Sadie and Harper share a devious look before the child goes back to playing with her hair and Sadie carries on her cutting. Once Jack is pleased that his daughter is distracted well enough by her own tresses, he comes up behind Sadie and puts both arms on either side of her, trapping her between his body and the kitchen table. Sadie gasps and almost drops her knife. If Jack thought Harper was insufferable, he obviously hadn't looked in a mirror lately.

"Jack…!"

"Those look mighty delectable, love. Although I'd much rather eat them off of you than off a plate."

Sadie turns her head to glare at him, to which Jack yields with his hands raised. He backs away, pulls Harper off the table, mentioning something about a 'bath', and walks from the kitchen to their daughter's bedroom, singing "Yo Ho, Yo Ho," all the way up. Sadie pops a berry into her mouth and chews thoughtfully, continuing to cut up the rest of the fruits.

A few minutes later, Jack descends the stairs once again, this time without a struggling child in his arms. He enters the kitchen just as Sadie places another strawberry in her mouth, at which point she glances down at the fruit between her lips to Jack's 'hungry' gaze. Dark-eyed, shirtless and, dare she notice, slightly wet from Harper's bath water, Jack stalks over to the subjugated woman and plants both of his hands firmly at the juncture where her skull meets her neck, and pulls her face to his. In an instant her strawberry is gone, and in its place is the man's tongue, which in all facts is a likeable replacement. Sadie entangles one of her own hands in Jack's unruly mass of hair and matches his fervor with equality, not surprised when she feels his hand wander under the robe. Any last existences of the strawberry are long gone as Jack's fingers begin to work their ever maddening magic on Sadie's nerves. Jack pulls away from his woman's mouth in order to hear her struggled whimpers as well as whisper:

"You know better than to tease me, love. By now I thought you'd realize that." In surrender Sadie nods before biting her lip and grasping Jack's shoulders in a vice, thankful to have him pressing his body against hers into the table to keep her from falling. By now her hair is a jumbled mess around her shoulders, and her head lolls back as Jack's hand reappears from beneath the robe. When she looks at Jack, he grins smugly at the sight of her flushed cheeks and dilated eyes. He reaches up and traces the worried area of the woman's lower lip with his thumb, taken by surprise when she turns her head and takes his index and middle finger into her mouth. She takes pride in watching the overconfident pirate's eyes expand and dilate and his mouth purse in attempted self-composure.

"That's not fair," he hisses from between clenched teeth. Sadie releases Jack's fingers from her mouth and smiles, much like a conniving feline, and places a single kiss on the hollow of his throat.

"Just playing your game, Jack." She replies. Jack is left wanting as Sadie escapes from between him and the table, retying the robe around her body and adjusting her hair. Jack leans against the table and folds his arms across his chest, thoughtfully taking in the woman's figure from behind. There is not a thing Jack Sparrow _doesn't _love about the angel, no, _goddess _standing before him. Even her marred back, with scars crisscrossing each other in wild patterns, is a complete reason to adore her alone. Every crevice, arch, and plane that makes up Sadie's body is all part of the single work of art. Jack knows every strand of hair on her head, every lash on her eye, every spot that makes her crumble in his arms and every button that makes her frustrated and angry. He knows her face like the back of his own hand. Many men would say that a woman who is known inside and out is no longer valuable; she is, in all cases, used for all that she is good for and should be cast aside for something new. But Jack, upon falling for the dear woman before him, instead cast the notion itself aside and took a new one all his own. With Sattelle, specifically, even when he thinks he knows every little side of her, there is always more just below the surface that has not yet been revealed.

Sadie turns around and hands Jack a bowl of fruit, which he takes gratefully, and the two begin to eat casually, standing by the table and countering each other's stare. When the bowl of fruit is completely gone, Sadie places it on the wood surface and washes her hands in a basin full of cool water, drying her hands on a nearby towel. Jack does the same. Together they leave the kitchen and make their way, hand in hand, to the living room, wherein Jack casts himself upon the sofa and pulls Sadie on top of him with her back against his stomach. He wraps his arms around her and settles in, grunting when she suddenly turns over to re-situate herself. Jack closes his eyes as the pleasant feeling of Sadie's hands tracing the length of his neck lulls him into a light sleep. Lying on him, Sadie too feels the heady euphoria of sleep wash over her, and she too closes her eyes to let it claim her.

- - -

Jack awakes at the sounding of the 12 o' clock bell, blinking away sleep and grogginess. Sadie is still asleep on top of him, one hand gently splayed across his chest and the other beneath her cheek. He smiles and carefully removes himself from beneath her, getting to his feet and for a moment stands over her to admire her sleeping form.

"You're so peaceful when you're asleep," he says. "I'm undetermined whether or not I like you peaceful or hellish." With a grin, he saunters away and glances outside for Harper.

"Pet?" He calls. With no answer, he shrugs and makes his way upstairs to the washroom between his room and Harper's. Jack knocks once on the door and calls Harper's name. When he receives no reply, he opens the door to look. The bath is full, the towel still folded, and the child's clothes still lie on the floor. Not one to worry until the last possible moment, Jack takes a deep breath and turns away from the washroom to go to Harper's bedroom. He knocks once again.

"Harper Rose Sparrow, you'd best answer me, you fiendish heathen child." The threat goes unanswered. Jack steels himself and opens the door, and a horrible dread washes over him. There are clothes scattered everywhere, the shutters are wide open, and written on the far wall are the words '_Your family will fall, Jack Sparrow.' _It doesn't take much imagination to know that the horrendous words are written in a dark red, foully metallic-scented mess better known as blood. Jack doesn't take another look at the wall or the state of the room, instead turning on his heel and tearing down the corridor, down the stairs and into the living room, crying Sadie's name. The woman is up and waiting for him, a confused and equal look of trepidation on her normally serene face. Jack grabs her by the shoulders, and before Sadie can ask what in Davy Jones' Locker is wrong, he wails,

"_Harper Rose is gone!" _

- - -

**I'm a tad evil, if any of you weren't aware. Now the fun begins. **

**Rachel**


	10. Fire and Heights

**Just…incredible. **

"_I'm no stranger to this place, __where real life and dreams collide, and even though I fall from grace, I will keep the dream alive." _

Oasis – Keep the Dream Alive

- - -

Gibbs had made it a habit not to want to go back to Port Royal for Jack Sparrow. Every day since that sunset four years ago, the captain's first mate wanted to retrieve the stubborn bird and get him back to where he belonged.

While Jack and Sadie are inside their home, frantically searching for their missing daughter, Gibbs is knocking back another mouthful of rum, trying desperately to ignore the pain of seeing the docks of Port Royal calling to the _Pearl _with every ounce of their volition. Gibbs is readily apt to heed the call, but he knows that if Jack takes one look at his ship, he would have too difficult a decision to face: his ship or his daughter? Gibbs, however, knows the captain, more so than many others, save for Ms. Sattelle herself. And he knows that the captain would choose that woman and their child over the ship, considering he had done so already.

The _Pearl _lazily wanders by Port Royal, many crewmen longingly staring at its shores. Most of those upon the _Pearl _have not even felt land for nearly a month or more. But Gibbs remains under the captain's strict orders not to retrieve him for any reason unless he calls upon them. Little does the portly, mutton-chopped first mate know that is exactly what would transpire in a matter of moments.

- - -

Jack bursts into his study, frantically throwing every one of his effects back onto his person. Every sash, belt, sword and pistol is placed back onto him. The meanwhile, Sadie stands in the doorway wringing her hands, tears falling from her eyes. Her little Harper, alone without her or Jack to protect her…Sadie forever dreaded the thought, and now it had come.

She hands Jack his compass, hat, and coat from the wall, and follows him from the study to the front door.

"Sattelle," he says breathlessly (Jack never calls Sadie by her full name unless under complete and unfathomable duress), "Go to the docks and find a sailor to send word to Gibbs. I need to get to the _Pearl." _

"You don't think Harper's still in Port Royal, Jack?"

Jack shakes his head as he pulls on his boots.

"No, she's gone. Whoever's taken her has more up their sleeve than just a kidnapping." Jack stands, his love before him with blue eyes watery and lips quivering. She blinks once and puts a hand on the side of his face.

"I've forgotten how fast you act," she says. Jack closes his eyes and relishes the feeling of her skin against his. "Go look again, near the cove and every where else you can. I'll be back in a moment."

Jack nods, and the warmth of Sadie's hand disappears. He opens his eyes to see that she has already fled the house. Jack turns and opens the door, and a moment later, a white blur passes by. The sound of hooves clobbering the dirt road fades away as Jack watches Sadie on her horse, galloping down to the docks.

The trip passes in a matter of moments, the horse feeding off his owner's worry and urgency. Upon arriving and dismounting her steed, Sadie immediately goes to Jonathan, the stout but otherwise honorary watchman, who stands at attention when he sees her.

"Missus Sparrow!" He cries, a look of worry coming to his features upon seeing hers. "What be you needin' from me?"

Sadie grasps the horse's halter. Her hair is askew and the wind has left dirt upon the tear trails on her face.

"Get word to Mr. Gibbs, Jonathan. My daughter has gone missing."

Jonathan goes to speak when he hears the other watchman above on the roof of the inn shout something down to him.

"Johnny! The _Pearl's_ on the horizon!"

- - -

Gibbs is sitting by Marty with a bottle of rum, watching Port Royal drift by like the ghost of a lover. Somewhere on deck, Cotton's parrot squalls "_Weigh anchor, make for port!" _but the birds' ramblings fall upon the deadened air without recognition. Marty leaves Gibbs to brood, mentioning something about going to the head. Gibbs merely throws his head back, along with a long slow swig of rum. The deck is predominately quiet, the warm winds carrying the _Pearl _past the small inlet of Port Royal.

The first mate closes his eyes, just to rest them, when Cotton's parrot flies over his head shrieking _"Prepare to board! All hands on deck!" _To which Gibbs opens his bleary blue eyes and notices something waving from the docks.

As Gibbs lifts himself from the deck, Pintel and Ragetti (whom Gibbs still has no taste for) run up against the railing in front of him. Pintel points one pudgy finger out to the Port and begins jumping up and down excitedly.

"They's need us, Gibbs!" He cries. "They're waving with the blue flag!"

A glimmer of hope and overwhelming relief envelopes Gibbs and the rest of the crew, and the first mate boisterously calls for Cotton to make for port.

- - -

Sadie watches from the docks as the _Pearl _begins to make its way to their position. She turns to Jonathan and places a hand on his shoulder.

"Tell them to wait on the ship. Ja - _Captain Sparrow _will be here in a moment." She turns away and mounts her horse, veering it away from the docks and back towards her home. The tears are still coursing down her worried face, and the wind does nothing to help. She barely needs to direct the horse beneath her back to the house, but even so, she wouldn't be able to. The grief that has taken her is too strong, and the need to have her daughter back in her arms is overwhelming. The horse stops before the Captain standing outside, and Jack takes the halter and watches Sadie dismount weakly. Jack releases the horse and ignores its wandering as he takes the sobbing woman into his arms. Sadie grabs onto his jacket for dear life, burying her face in the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Jack closes his eyes and places a hand on the back of her head, trying to console her, but it yields no result. He, too, is so shaken by what has transpired that he can only hold Sadie closer and try to calm both their fears.

"Sadie," he says, trying to bring her out of her hysteria. The woman leans back and wipes her eyes, but only more take their place. She sniffles and looks into Jack's eyes, nodding.

"Yes, Mister Jack?" Jack visibly wilts at the name. He wipes another of Sadie's tears with the pad of his thumb.

"You know you have to stay here. I can't go losing both my gels, savvy?"

Sadie nods in compliance, but immediately another bout of sobs wracks her body. Jack catches her in his arms and pulls her hair away from her face, trying to coax some quiet out of her. Sadie leans into his hand and releases a shaky sigh, taking a moment to catch her breath. Jack smiles grimly as he rights her, taking one of her shaking hands in his and leading her down to the docks. Sadie goes silent as a martyr, clasping the pirates' hand in a death grip. Jack doesn't register the pain, instead looking out to see the _Pearl _docking only a hundred yards ahead of them. Four years was too long of time for him to be away from his ship. But at the same time, the idea of leaving Sadie behind in Port Royal leaves a similarly rancid taste in the man's mouth. Jack looks down at their conjoined hands and then at Sadie's set face, knowing that inside she is breaking into the tiniest of pieces.

Jack glances back when he notices Gibbs waving at him from the deck of the _Pearl _excitedly, as well as the rest of his crew. Jack returns a feeble wave, but the rest of his attention turns to Sadie at his side. They stop walking where the docks meet the dirt road, Jack turning the woman to face him. Sadie sniffs once, but looks up into his eyes and tries not to break down at the sight of his face, showing all the worry in the world for her and their family.

"Are you listening, Sadie?" Jack says, placing a hand on the back of her neck. She nods.

"Yes, Jack."

Jack takes a step closer to her, gently pulling her head back to make her look up at him. Otherwise, she will only stare at the ground and try to hide her tears.

"You are going to go and stay with William and Elizabeth, and you will stay there until I come back with Harper Rose."

Sadie only nods. Jack sighs and places both of his hands on the sides of her head, bringing her brow against his.

"Sadie?"

"Yes, Jack."

That was it. The one sign that Sadie's heart had broken. Her unresponsive tone, the dead look in her eyes, those are the signs that tell Jack that this sudden choice of his had more repercussions than he thought. He looks into Sadie's eyes, trying to glean some responsiveness from her. Instead, she closes her eyes and bows her head, not noticing the anger flare up in the man before her. Jack huffs and bends down, capturing Sadie's mouth with his as he returns to standing. Sadie gasps, a familiar electric sensation traveling over her skin and through her blood stream at the feeling of Jack's hands on her arms and neck, and the euphoria of having him kiss her so passionately and recklessly. Sadie wraps her arms around Jack's neck and holds him close to her. When he pulls away, Jack notices the glimmer has returned to her eyes and a furious blush has risen to her perfect cheeks.

"There," he says, memorizing once again every curvature and dimple on Sadie's face. "There she is."

Sadie grins, battling the tears. Jack lets out a laugh, catching the woman in another embrace. She, too, wraps her arms around him and tries to hold him tightly enough so that he will not escape from her. But Sadie pulls away with disdain, knowing that the sooner he leaves, the sooner she can have Harper back safely in her arms. Sacrifice is the one thing that she still needs to work on.

"Go, Jack," she says, looking him sternly in the eye. "You have to go now, or else I'll never let you."

Jack smiles, kissing her one more time. Every ounce of his fear, worry, guilt and love goes into it, bruising Sadie's lips and his own. Sadie grabs onto his jacket and hair, trying to hold onto him as much as possible. People begin to stare at the two of them, standing in the middle of the road and ignoring their watching eyes. Jack opens his eyes and pulls away, holding the side of Sadie's face in one hand. He leaves one last kiss on her lips, touches his brow to hers and sighs.

"I love you, Sadie."

Sadie's eyes snap open, but the pirate is already gone from her arms and running towards the _Pearl_ before she can regain her own balance. She teeters and falls to her knees, watching in sorrow as Jack climbs aboard his ship, greets a few crewmembers and immediately sets to shouting orders. Sadie's heart is pounding so hard in her chest that it threatens to burst forth and die in the dust.

"Jack…" she whispers in the wind, new tears trickling down her face. As if he heard her, Jack turns on the deck to watch her, so far away from him already. He walks over to the railing and places his hands on it as the _Pearl _begins to move from the docks. He watches as Sadie reaches a hand out to him, and he knows quite well that her face must be sodden with tears. Jack suddenly reaches for his belts, removes his compass from the maze of fabric and trinkets, and whistles to Sadie. He sees her head perk up, and she is on her feet in seconds, running down to the dock where the _Pearl _just left. Jack throws the compass to her, the woman catching it deftly and pulling the little wooden box into her.

"Stay!" Jack calls to her in demand. Sadie looks at him, standing back on the deck of his beloved ship once more, and still trying to protect her. Sadie smiles through her crying and brings her left hand to her mouth, kissing the silver and onyx ring on her finger. From the ship, Jack removes his hat and places his hand, palm flat, on his headscarf.

Jonathan comes to Sadie's side, he too watching the giant _Pearl _sail off into the distance. He looks down at the woman next to him, noticing a glow emanate from her. She clutches the Captain's compass in her hands and holds it to her chest.

"He's more than a Captain, Jonathan," she says, closing her eyes. The sunlight causes the blood in her veins to heat up, and a heady sense of pride and defiance fills her. She turns to the man at her side and gives him a strange look – one that has cunning written all over it – and strings the compass around her wrist.

"He's my teacher in everything."

With a wink, she runs off towards the Turner's home, her ring glinting in the afternoon sun.

- - -

Jack turns away from the rail after watching Sadie run from the docks, knowing somehow, obeying his command is the last thing on her mind. Gibbs and the rest of the crew of the Pearl, each of them beyond thrilled to have him back in their company, meet him.

"Orders, Cap'n?" Gibbs asks anxiously. Jack replaces his hat and storms over to the helm, Cotton graciously relinquishing the duty to his Captain. Jack throws the wheel towards the port side, the crew scurrying to keep up. In that moment, those aboard the _Black Pearl _realize that this is not going to be just another voyage.

This will be something entirely different.

- - -

**Hope that wasn't as crappy a chapter as I thought it was… **

**Rachel**


	11. Evening on the Ground

Words cannot express how much a part of my life you all are. YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!!

"_If you're traveling in the North Country fair, where the winds hit heavy on the borderline, remember me to one who lives there, for she was once a true love of mine." _

Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash – Girl from the North Country

- - -

Morgan is in a trap. In a long boat, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, with a four year old giving him a spine curling death glare. He had not expected his prey to be so unruly and for all intensive purposes, _bitey. _Unconsciously he rubs one of the many swollen red bite marks on his hand. For all of his size and strength and foreboding appearances, Morgan finds himself at a loss against Jack Sparrow's four year old daughter. He finally leans back and raises his hands in defeat.

"Glare at me all you want, darling," he says sourly, placing his hands back in his lap. "You're not going back to your dear old family any time soon."

Harper Rose stands up in the boat, petite hands on her hips.

"I have you know, Monsieur, my papa is _Captain Jack-" _

"Sparrow," Morgan finishes, not wanting to hear more boasts by this little thing. "Your pop ain't that strong, darling," he hisses, reaching out a hand and grabbing Harper by the chin. "I could break you in half right now and he'd be powerless to stop me." The girl struggles to free herself, but Morgan manages to keep his grip on her. "And your mum would kill herself if you died. So you best not go getting yourself into trouble from now on, darling."

Harper glares at the bulk of a man and he releases her, chuckling, as she falls back into her seat most ungracefully. She huffs and turns her back on the man, arms crossed.

"You will see, Monsieur," she mutters under her breath, opening one of her tiny palms to reveal a hair trinket of her father's. Harper smiles and looks out to the horizon as she clutches it in her little fist.

- - -

Elizabeth greets a flustered Sadie upon her arrival, and barely manages a polite hello before the frantic woman is calling for William and her into the parlor. Elizabeth follows Sadie, and hears her husband clambering down the stairs after them.

"Sadie, what's going on?" Elizabeth asks, watching as her dear friend paces back and forth, running holes into the floor rug. William enters the room and closes the door behind him, catching his wife's baffled gaze before running over to Sadie and catching her by the shoulders.

"Sadie, you have to calm down and tell us what's wrong!" He says loudly enough for the madwoman to register his presence. Sadie pauses and looks up at William, gasping for breath. She blinks once before throwing herself upon him.

"You must go help Jack!" She cries, not noticing William and Elizabeth exchange worried glances. Sadie pulls herself up and she too holds the man by the shoulders, looking him straight in the eye. "He's gone to find Harper Rose!"

"Someone's taken her?" Elizabeth cries aghast, rushing over to her friend's side. Sadie grasps her hand and gives the couple pleading looks.

"Please, Elizabeth, William, you _have _to help him find her."

The pair looks at each other for a long while, wordlessly making their agreement. William is the first to speak to the frenzied woman.

"We'll go," he says in that final tone. "Where's Jack now?"

"Aboard the _Pearl, _he's just set sail. I can't go with him," Sadie says brokenly, new tears brimming under her lashes. She shakes them away and releases the two, making them move towards the door. "But you must go now!"

Elizabeth turns and takes Sadie into a fierce embrace, her husband watching from the front door still hanging wide open. William is apprehensive about allowing his wife on this adventure in her fragile state, but knows that if Elizabeth is anything; weak is the least of them.

Sadie pushes her friend away and shoves her towards the door, trying not to break out in sobs again.

"You have to go," she says, releasing Elizabeth's hand. "I'll make sure that your governess takes care of Elliot while you're away."

"What about you?" William asks. He knows quite well that if Jack has ordered Sadie to stay put while their daughter has been kidnapped, staying anywhere in Port Royal is the last thing he expects her to do. Sadie looks at William long and hard, before a subtle glint appears in her cerulean eyes and the corner of her mouth turns up.

"No need to worry about me, Mr. Turner." Sadie gives them one last shoo before running off in the direction of her own home in a flurry of white and gold. Elizabeth turns to her husband and shrugs.

"I suppose we should be going," she says, taking his extended hand and following his rapid pace down to the docks.

- - -

Sadie bursts into her empty house, heart beating madly within her chest. She stands in the middle of the foyer, noticing for the first time how large and empty it can truly be. The house is eerily silent, missing the laughter and cries from her family. It has the feeling of an abandoned, ghost haunted castle that has not had life in it for many years. Sadie feels a shiver travel up her spine at the thought of such a thing.

Shaking off the feeling as best as she can, Sadie dashes up the stairs to her bedroom, throwing open the door and stripping off her troublesome dress as quickly as possible. Opening her dresser, she removes one of Jack's old blouses and pulls it over her head, pilfering through all the clothing until she finds a pair of trim slacks. Tucking the blouse in, Sadie turns to see Jack's robe lying across the bed.

Despite the frenzy of the moment, a wicked idea strikes her. She takes a dagger off Jack's bedside table and goes to the red silk robe. The sleeves are cut off to the elbow and the bottom brought up to mid-thigh, and Sadie stands back to eye her work. She laughs to herself heartlessly before tossing the dagger away and taking the robe off the bed and throwing it around her shoulders. She wraps it around herself and ties it off, when a bombardment of euphoria pummels her. Jack's scent of rum and the sea comes off in waves off the robe, causing the familiar stinging of tears to arise behind Sadie's eyes. She shakes off the feeling and ties her hair up, marching over to where her boots are. After sliding them on, she flees the bedroom to Jack's study, throwing the door open and immediately rummaging through the man's stores of belts, sashes, guns, swords, and other looted paraphernalia. Once equipped with her needs, Sadie goes about the house, locking windows and doors as well as she can in her rush.

As soon as she is satisfied, the woman makes her exeunt, stuffing a flask of water into her sashes and running down the road, not taking a look back at her house, no longer fit to even be called home with the absence of her lover and child. Sadie makes her way to the docks, the sight of William and Elizabeth already gone lifting a heavy weight off her shoulders. Jonathan meets her again, a bewildered air about himself.

"Missus Sparrow," he says, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Just what is it you're planning on doing?"

"I'm going to help find my daughter, Jonathan," she says, "Even if that means betraying Jack's demands of me."

"Missus Sparrow," Jonathan says again, moving to her front. "You can't be goin' anywhere. Captain ordered me not to let you get nowhere off of this dock."

Sadie looks up at the man holding her by the shoulders. A surge of anger flows through her, and in a vain attempt she tries to push him back with her fists, but Jonathan doesn't budge. Sadie looks up at him again.

"You're serious, aren't you?" She says brokenly. She breaks down when her friend nods, a pitying look on his face. Jonathan holds her close to him, a wave of regret passing through him at the sound of the woman's cries. It must be the cruelest thing he has ever done, keeping a mother from her child. But Jonathan has no wish to betray the demands of Captain Jack Sparrow, much unlike the pirate's becomingly hellish woman. Jonathan turns and leads Sadie away from the docks towards the nearby inn, hoping that it will be enough to hold her at bay.

In the back of his mind, Jonathan knows an inn will not keep Sattelle de Pearl away from her family.

- - -

For the first time in 4 years, Jack Sparrow cannot sleep. No matter how much he paces his room, how many bottles of rum he ingests, or how many times he yells at the ceiling, his body cannot rest. His cabin has been kept in good condition during his absence, but the absence of Sadie is overpowering and as wretched as if the cabin had been abandoned to dust and rats all this time. The side of the bed where Sadie should lie is cold, and so is he. Jack falls against a wall when a particularly harsh wave batters the side of the _Pearl. _His legs are still trying to catch up with the change in environment.

As Jack tries to peel himself off the wall, a realization dawns on him, and he tears from his cabin out on deck, ignoring the looks of his already befuddled crew and running down the stairs below deck. Taking an immediate turn, he opens a small door and goes inside, running up a narrow flight of stairs before breaking through another door into what once was Sadie's private cabin. Jack flings himself upon the bed, nearly tripping over scattered articles of clothing. He buries his face into her old pillow, clutches the sheets in his hands, trying his damnedest to catch her scent on the fabrics.

"Sadie…" He sighs, not caring if someone walks in on him in his state of torment. Despite the time away from the bed, everything still smells of Sadie, as if she had never left it. Jack whispers her name again, and again, his hands releasing and gripping the sheets repeatedly. A surge of exhaustion washes over the pirate all at once, causing his body to go limp on the bed. Jack shuts his eyes and tries not to think of her, but to no avail, not with her scent rising up and smothering him.

And Harper…Jack's heart breaks at the thought of his precious, albeit nightmarish, daughter in the hands of thieves and even possibly Peter Codney. The name leaves a feeling of bile rising up in his throat. Jack turns onto his back and stares up at the ceiling, but all he can see is Sadie's face; smiling, crying, laughing, sleeping, pained, flustered, pleasured…Jack lets out a strangled cry and covers his face with his hands. God forbid he sees visions of her face in the midst of her climax. Jack rolls back and forth on the bed violently, and launches off when yet another wave crashes against the side of the ship. The pirate lands in an undignified heap on the ground, blearily trying to stand himself upright. He only manages to fall against the side of the bed with a curse.

"This is utterly, completely, incomprehensibly ridiculous."

Someone knocks on the door, causing Jack to start.

"Cap'n? Everything alright in there?" Comes Gibbs' voice from the other side. Jack rolls his eyes and shoos at the door with his hand.

"Everything is fine, mate."

"Aye, Cap'n."

Once the first mate's footsteps die away, Jack closes his eyes and sighs.

"Peachy keen."

- - -

Seems as though Harper can hold her own, can't she? I just love spitfire children, as long as they're not mine, just my characters'. Enjoy!!

**Rachel**


	12. Muddy Hymnal

**In order to make up for the finicky shortness of the last chapter, here's a much longer one, just for you all!! **

"_I'll give everything you want, except the thing that you want." _

U2 – Original of the Species

- - -

Jack groans when someone knocks on the door early the next morning, calling his name impatiently.

"Get up, Jack, we know you're in there."

It's dear old Will Turner, being his annoying self per usual. Jack drags himself out of Sadie's bed and stumbles over to the door, reaching lazily for the knob. He flies back when the door is thrown open, most likely by a foot, and William appears in the threshold. With Jack lying on the ground and the young man standing over him, Jack rolls his eyes and holds his arms out in a _well what now? _sort of way.

"This seems awfully familiar, no?" says Jack bemusedly. William sighs and holds out his hand for the pirate to take. Jack grabs hold and is hauled to his feet, teetering this way and that.

"Elizabeth and I are coming with you, Jack," the younger man states, watching his friend (of sorts) blink himself to awareness.

"Who says?"

"The woman you left behind in Port Royal."

Jack, who had been adjusting his hat and looking out the window, pauses and feels his heart rate deaden. He turns his gaze to Mr. Turner, alight with dangerous curiosity.

"And did you bring her along against my orders?" He whispers. William balks and shakes his head.

"No Jack, she's still on land."

Jack's tense shoulders loosen and he bows his head, falling back to sit on the bed. He cradles his brow in his left hand, releasing a leaden sigh.

"She's not going to listen to me," he mutters under his breath. William pretends to not have heard it. Instead, he leaves Sadie's old cabin and Jack Sparrow to his musings, not in the mood for more of the man's ravings. As soon as he's gone, Jack hauls himself off the bed and towards the door, stumbling over himself. Being without Sadie is having a heavier toll on him than he thought it would.

- - -

Jonathan winces when he hears Sadie ram herself against the door for the fifteenth time that night. He has tried everything he can think of to keep her at bay, but she won't hear anything of it. Between her trying to break out of the room and her sobbing, he has only managed to get in a few words to her. Predominately "He won't be gone long," and "I'm sure she's just fine," both lies on his account, knowing that when Sparrow is involved, nothing is that simple.

When the screaming and the thudding stops, Jonathan gets up from his seat with a plate of food and goes to the room Sadie has been trying to escape. He unlocks the door and opens it carefully, poking his head inside first. Sadie is sitting against the bed, finally exhausted from all of her efforts. Jonathan sighs in relief and closes the door, locking it behind him.

"Sadie," he says carefully. She blinks and rolls her head to look at him. Her eyes are red with crying and her right arm is cradled in her lap. Jonathan puts the food down on the untouched bed and kneels next to her, placing a few strands of hair back behind her ear. "Are you alright?"

She nods weakly, her mouth completely shut. Jonathan notes her arm and goes to her other side, gently prying the appendage from her hold on it. He watches her face as he moves it around, noticing the look of utter pain crossing over her face when he rotates her shoulder. Jonathan sighs and rolls up Sadie's sleeve, not surprised to find her shoulder dislocated from where it should be.

"Good lord, Sadie…"

"Just fix it, Jonathan," she demands weakly. The man next to her, normally a gruff and unsympathetic individual, places a large hand on the side of the woman's face. Sadie turns her head to look at him, the life in her eyes almost dead. Jonathan, in one swift move, lifts and pulls Sadie's shoulder back into place with a satisfying crunch. The woman's demeanor makes no change. Jonathan rolls her sleeve back down and sits on the floor next to her, taking one of her hands in his own.

Ever since he first met Sadie, Jonathan has felt a strange fraternal instinct to protect her from whatever tries to claim her. With his only being 6 years older than her four-and-twenty, it seems only right. He is taller and stronger than most men, able to withstand most bar room brawls that include him. And sitting before him is his charge, frail and withered by the loss of her family, and he unable to do anything to make her feel any differently.

Jonathan takes both sides of Sadie's face between his hands and whispers her name; pleased enough to have her meet his gaze.

"Is this what he would want you to do?" He says, trying to awaken the defeated hellcat he knows lies inside of her. Upon their first meeting, Sadie was still a gentle little angel that no one was allowed to touch, save Captain Sparrow. But as years progressed in Port Royal, she became more and more her own woman with an unbreakable spirit. "Would Jack want to see you so defeated?"

Sadie looks at him wearily.

"They took my daughter, Jonathan. They took her and Jack left me here to wait in agony."

"He left you to protect you, Sadie. You know that."

Sadie closes her eyes, but the man at her side rattles her head with a firm shake to bring her back to focus. She looks at him, confused, and still so exhausted.

"Jack would want you to persevere, love. If that man knows anything, it's how to protect you and you alone."

"But Harper…"

Jonathan smiles, moving more hair out of Sadie's face.

"Harper Rose is a _Sparrow, _Sadie. She's got your charm and Jack's cunning. You don't think even for a four year old she can't hold herself out, even briefly?"

Sadie blinks, and a small smile comes to her face.

"You do have a point."

Jonathan grins, pulling the woman into a gentle embrace, keeping in mind her shoulder. Sadie rests her head on her friend's chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"You just have to trust Jack, and everything will turn out as it should."

- - -

Drake lifts his gaze to the night sky, taking in the glamour of every glittering star in the blackness. Peter sits across from him, nervously picking the dirt from his fingernails with his dagger. Aboard their little dinghy are one unlit lamp, a few yards of rope, a number of weapons, and the two men. Peter is easily the more nervous of the two, considering his mission.

"Drake?" He whispers into the night. The other man, nearly lost in the darkness, sits up and gives the young man a bored look.

"Must we go over the plan _again, _Codney? If you're not up to this, I'm sure I can find a justifiable replacement for you."

"No!" Peter hisses, careful not to raise his voice too loudly. "I was just wondering…what happens after I get him?"

Drake's face contorts into a malicious grin, and he takes his own dagger in hand, dragging it across his knee to clean the water off it.

"Get him into one of their long boats and make for the island, and I'll get there on my own."

Peter nods, replacing his dagger in its small sheath and absentmindedly scratching his bearded chin. The boat goes quiet, the sounds of the ocean lapping at the sides proving enough resonance for the time being. Drake guides the dinghy through the waters towards the ever growing ink spot on the horizon, dotted with lamp lights. Another wicked smile draws across his face. Peter looks at his cohort warily for a moment before looking back towards their destination. His heart begins to beat harder in his chest as the massive ship, the _Black Pearl, _looms only a little ways ahead of them.

- - -

The night is giving him a headache. All the rum Jack has had during the past two days is completely gone from his system, and in its place is the painful beating of his heart, which he has been fruitlessly attempting to avoid. Jack grunts and calls for Cotton to take the helm as he abandons the post to make for bed. Instead of going to his own cabin, Jack stumbles down towards Sadie's, falling upon her bed upon entering and unhesitatingly letting out a strangled cry. A strange pain shoots through his right shoulder. Jack sits up and looks, but nothing is out of place. Tired, confused, angry, pitiful, the captain falls back upon the bed and buries his face in Sadie's pillow, inhaling her scent as he falls asleep like a dead weight.

On deck, Gibbs and Marty sit at the prow of the ship playing a weak game of Liars Dice, their energy lacking due to the state of their captain. Gibbs turns his gaze and watches as Jack disappears below deck, no doubt to go to Sadie's old cabin instead of his own. The first mate shakes his head and goes back to the game.

"Lord knows just how badly he misses her," he mutters under his breath. Marty nods, but says nothing in reply. The deck is mostly abandoned save for the two of them playing in the dim lamplight, and a shiver runs up the deckhand's spine. Gibbs too looks up from their game at Marty, who gives him an uncertain shrug of the shoulders. The first mate turns around, scanning the darkness of the deck, when he sees someone approaching them.

"Who's that, then?" Gibbs asks, and Peter Codney enters the light. Both Gibbs and Marty's faces fall, and Peter smiles.

"Miss me, mates?" The two men stare back at him blankly, and Peter's grin diminishes. "I didn't think so." He removes his pistol and knocks Joshamee unconscious with it, and does the same to the dwarf before he can raise any alarm. "Now," he mutters, looking around. He sneaks across the deck towards Jack's cabin and opens the door slowly, a little surprised to find the Captain not in his own bed. Realization dawns on him and Peter backs away slowly, like a predator who has just discovered the den of its prey. He turns towards the stairwell leading below deck and smiles, a grim, sinister one.

Peter opens the door to Sadie's old room, poking his head inside to see Sparrow fast asleep on her bed, face buried in her pillow. He leers at the pathetic captain and makes towards him, unraveling the rope from around his arm, his face splitting into another horrible grin.

- - -

Sadie awakes to find Jonathan gone from her room and her body lying on an unfamiliar bed. She sits up slowly, wincing at the pain in her shoulder, and realizes she is still in the room at the inn. Her sword and pistol are lying on the table next to her, and her boots are neatly paired next to the locked door. Sadie pulls herself out of bed and goes over to the equally locked window, watching as the last rays of the sunset peak over the horizon. The _Pearl _is nowhere in sight. She sighs and leans against the wall, drawing a hand through her hair. She had not slept well at all, even for a day of it, and another night and day without her family will only make it worse. Sadie goes away from the window towards the door, leaning her head against it.

"Jonathan? Are you out there?"

She hears footsteps, and a key turn the lock in the door. She steps back as her friend opens it. Jonathan eyes her carefully, noting the dark circles under her eyes and the disarray of her clothes, both obviously from a horrible night's sleep. He hands over her breakfast and she takes it gratefully, sitting on the bed and filling herself with everything on the plate. Jonathan watches her from the door quietly.

"Are you feeling alright, Sadie?" He asks. She looks at him, and he nods towards her shoulder. She follows his gaze and closes her eyes. Sadie nods, swallowing the bread in her mouth.

"You did a fine job, Jonathan. Thank you." Her voice is stronger than it was the day prior, but still no closer to its regular tone. The man standing in the doorway walks over to Sadie and kneels before her, taking her empty hands into his own.

"Sadie, look at me." She does so, and Jonathan feels his heart break at the sight of her. Her skin is ashen and its vibrancy has fallen prey to pallor; her long golden hair, envied by most women of Port Royal, hangs limp around her shoulders. In two days, Sadie has gone from the happiest woman in the world to the coldest of the living dead. Jonathan does note, however, that her eyes hold more spark to them than before. "I can't live to see you like this. He would kill me if he heard me say this, but," he pauses, looking down at their hands, Sadie clutching his tightly in a vice. "You need to go after Jack. I will let you go, simply because I can't stand to see you shut in here another minute."

As Jonathan stands, Sadie looks up at him with a thankfulness that shatters the rest of the man's stoic. He breaks into a smile and lifts the woman off the bed, leading her towards the door. Downstairs they can hear a customary brawl going on, but they ignore it as they make their way down the corridors and stairwells to the main room. A few turn to look at the famous Missus Sparrow with a keen eye, a few (namely women) with a look of hatred and disgust, and the rest without care whatsoever. Jonathan carefully maneuvers his way through the crowd, Sadie hanging off his shoulder, glancing back and forth at those giving her unsavory looks.

"Just keep walking, love," he whispers to her. Sadie nods in agreement, too tired to do anything herself. She does look up when someone new enters the inn, and a heavy sense of foreboding fills the already stifling air. She looks over at the newcomer, and when his eyes meet hers, she stops dead in her tracks, causing Jonathan to do so as well.

"Johnny," she whispers nervously.

"What is it, Sadie?"

She nods over at the dark figure by the door, barely noticeable against the dark of night outside. Jonathan looks over at him as well, feeling a similar sensation of fear trickle down his spine. Before he can utter a word back to her, the figure removes a pistol from his dark overcoat and aims it at Jonathan's head, shooting and hitting the man precisely in the brow. Sadie pushes herself away and watches in horror as her friend falls to the ground, his death primarily unnoticed by the company in the room. She looks back over at the door to see the man coming towards her, holstering his weapon. Sadie's heart begins to race, and on instinct she reaches for a pirates' mug and launches it at the stranger, not taking a moment for pride when it hits him in the head with a resounding _thwack. _Sadie bolts from the inn at a dead sprint into the night, not noticing the tears falling from her eyes or the direction she is fleeing. Working like clockwork, and without noticing, she clambers into a barrel sitting on the dock, ignored by the sailors meandering around the area, closing the lid over her and tucking her head between her knees. She kisses the ring Mister Jack gave her all those years ago and tries to catch her breath.

"Please Jack…please be alright."

- - -

Elizabeth is standing on deck early on the third day of her voyage out at sea, watching the dawn's rays begin to swath the ocean in pink and orange and yellow. It has been ages since she has last been out at sea, let alone aboard the _Pearl. _Elizabeth rests her elbows on the railing and cradles her head in her hands, closing her eyes and smiling when William comes up behind her. He wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her in close against him, resting his chin on her shoulder. Despite all the mayhem of the voyage so far, she and her husband always seem to find some peace in each other. She wonders if that is what Jack and Sadie feel: such a peace and contentment that only kindred souls can experience. Elizabeth has always known that no matter how much she and William profess their love for each other, no two people in the world can match the amorousness of Jack and Sadie.

Elizabeth stands upright suddenly, nearly knocking William onto the deck, looking over at the Captain's cabin.

"Have you seen Jack lately?"

William shakes his head.

"I last heard from Gibbs he was in Sadie's old cabin below deck."

Despite the comfort of the morning, a worried feeling strikes the woman. She takes hold of Will's hand and leads him towards Sadie's old cabin, descending stairs and opening doors and ascending more stairs before the two of them walk into the cabin. The open window is shattered, the sheets are in complete disarray, and in small splatters are patches of blood. Elizabeth covers her mouth while William investigates. He notices some rope abandoned on the floor, most likely the cut-off remnants of a wrist binding. William picks it up and looks at the bed, touching the sheets. They're still slightly warm from Jack's sleeping on them.

"It hasn't been long since he's been kidnapped," he says. Elizabeth looks at him, confused.

"Kidnapped? I would think Jack is the last person who'd be able to get himself into that kind of mess."

William nods, agreeing full heartedly, but a feeling tells him that the Captain's strength is not what it normally is without Sadie there to give him something to protect. When William tells his wife this, a look of understanding crosses over her features and she walks over to him.

"What should we do?"

William looks out the broken window, clenching the frayed rope end in his hands.

"Tell Cotton to make for Port Royal, immediately." He turns to Elizabeth, kissing her quickly on the lips. "We have to get Sadie," he says before turning and running out of the cabin, Elizabeth following him.

On deck, she watches as William shows Gibbs the rope and explains the situation. Gibbs goes pale then, turning William around and whispering something in his ear. Elizabeth walks down to them, confused and lost.

"What is it?"

William turns to her, as does Gibbs, who is looking guilty and sick to his stomach.

"Peter Codney was aboard last night. He knocked Marty and Gibbs unconscious and hasn't been seen since."

Elizabeth looks at the two men, bewildered.

"You think Peter kidnapped Jack?"

Gibbs nods regretfully.

"I fear it's so. He made off with one of our longboats as well."

The three of them look out to sea, William grasping his wife's hand reassuringly. Gibbs turns towards the helm and calls to Cotton to make for Port Royal, his voice quavering slightly. When he turns back out to look at the sea, he crosses himself and mutters a prayer under his rum-soaked breath.

- - -

**Six pages, just for you all! Enjoy!!**

**Rachel**


	13. Mother Earth

**My dear readers – please forgive me for taking so long in updating. It's been quite some time, and there's plenty good reason. School, a WWII novel that took me nine months to write…all sorts of things. But I felt bad for leaving things hanging, so I've decided on another chapter for you all!! I hope you can forgive me and enjoy! **

_Please, remember me_

_My misery_

_And how it lost me all I wanted…_

Iron & Wine – The Trapeze Swinger

- - -

Sadie can feel the tearing at her heartstrings all through the night well into the sunrise of the next day. The poor woman was still trapped in her barrel, eyes clenched shut in hopes that in doing so, no one would think of looking there for her. Hundreds of questions ran through her mind. Who had killed Jonathan; moreover, why? The memory of seeing him lying bloody on the floor of the tavern sends a shiver down her spine. He had been her only support for the duration of Jack's absence, and the captain had still not even returned, leaving her completely and utterly alone. Sadie never felt so lost. She bites at a long fingernail and shakes away the tears forming beneath her lashes, waiting for full light to come beaming through the small hole in her barrel.

It is some time later in the morning, near noon, when Sadie hears the docks come to life, marking the incoming of a ship. By the men's excitement, it's much more than just a schooner full of spices. Sadie lifts the lid of the barrel to peek out to sea, her voice catching in her throat. On the horizon is the _Black Pearl, _so grand and majestic and filling the woman with so much hope that she throws off the lid of the barrel to the ground and scrambles out, much to the surprise of sailors nearby. They go to detain the haggard looking woman with straggly blonde hair and sallow skin, grasping her by the fragile joint of her wrist and turning her about. The one holding her glares at her, pestering her into her business for being in a barrel, whilst his second, standing behind him, nearly falls over himself to make his friend release the woman.

"Let 'er go, mate!" he hisses, wrenching on the man's hand desperately. "That's _Sparrow's _lass, that is!" The man holding onto Sadie gasps and releases her as though he'd been branded by touching her.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I-"

She smiles and forgives him hastily, leaving the two sailors standing by the overturned barrel with very confused looks on their faces. Sadie runs down toward the edge of the dock, waving frantically at the _Pearl _bearing down upon Port Royal at full speed. She sees Gibbs at the helm, Marty in the nest, Cotton manning the sails to the best of his ability. When the ship docks, Sadie waits for Gibbs to lower the gangplank in heart-thundering anticipation. She clasps her hands around Mister Jack's ring as people appear over the lip of the gangplank. Sadie gasps and breaks out into a grin as she runs up towards the deck of the _Pearl. _

"Elizabeth! William!"

Mr. Turner grabs the woman before she runs headlong into the main mast, holding her at a distance to survey her. In his mind, William curses. Being left behind in Port Royal had taken a heavier toll on the woman than he had anticipated. Sadie, he realizes, has suddenly burst into sobs and his wife is desperately trying to get her out of his grasp to comfort her. Sadie turns and falls into her friend's arms, Elizabeth holding onto her even as she sags to the deck of the ship.

"Lizzie," Sadie gasps, "I need Jack, Lizzie...it hurts so much!"

Elizabeth looks to her husband for help, her eyes pleading with him to come to a reasonable explanation for Jack's absence. It was obvious that Sadie wasn't so bewildered to not notice that. William crouches by the sobbing woman and clasps her face between his hands, repeating her name until she looks directly at him. When she finally does, William's heart tears at the sight of the woman's brokenness, that empty void aching to be filled by her Captain. He watches as Sadie gathers herself and closes her eyes.

"Where is Jack, William?" She asks softly. The Turners glance at each other, Elizabeth nodding her head. Sadie and Jack are too in tune with one another to not know when something is wrong. William takes Sadie by the shoulders and lifts her to her feet.

"Jack was…" He hesitates, knowing what will happen when the truth comes out. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. "Jack was kidnapped, Sadie." At her crushed and expectant look, he finished, "Three nights ago." She crumbled in their arms, William just catching her before she hits the deck, unconscious. He shakes his head as he takes the woman into his arms and stands before his wife.

"Where should we take her?" He asks. Elizabeth's shoulders sag and she releases a heavy sigh.

"Not in her old room. There's still blood and signs of the struggle. I fear putting her in Jack's cabin would throw her for a spin, but it's probably also the only place that will make her feel safe."

Following his wife's reasoning, William carries the unconscious Sadie across the deck of the _Pearl _towards the Captain's cabin. When Gibbs sees the woman limp in the lad's arms, he clenches the spokes of the helm in his hands and seethes. He cares too much for that woman to let her perpetrators get away with ruining her life, as well as the life of his Captain.

William lays Sadie on Jack's bed, pushing her hair out of her sunken face. She looks so pale and lifeless compared to the angel she had been only a little while before her life came crashing down around her. Elizabeth commences to shoo him out of the cabin so as to care for her sister-figure alone. Before he leaves, he kisses his wife and whispers, "I love you," just in case she had forgotten. One thing Jack and Sadie have taught William about love is that it should always be ascertained, every minute of every day, no matter the circumstances.

- - -

Jack groans, rocking his head back and forth, as the gentle swaying of a boat causes him to awaken from his painful induced sleep. The last thing he remembers is being asleep in Sadie's old cabin, and then waking up on a dinghy, then getting hit against the back of the head again. Realizing that is probably where he is now, waking up from his last hit, Jack opens his eyes to get a complete view of the clear blue sky.

Like Sadie's eyes.

He groans and buries his face in his hands as another man begins to laugh.

"Was wondering when you'd wake up, Sparrow," says Peter Codney, rowing the dinghy with a compass open on his lap. "It's been at least three days since I nabbed you."

"If you don't mind," mutters Jack, "I've got a rather splitting headache and your voice isn't it helping matters."

Peter glares at the pirate at the opposite end of the boat, even though the man's gaze is currently directed at his own palms. The two of them pass into a tense silence, Jack alternating between shutting his eyes and staring at the open skies, while Peter glances at him and at the compass pointing him towards their destination.

"So besides revenge," Jack says after a long silence, "what's your reasoning behind kidnapping me?"

"That is for you to find out at a later time, Jack Sparrow," Peter replies.

"So that means you're not the 'progenitor' of this little scheme? How quaint. You're just a hired hand!"

Peter seethes as he rows the boat, occasionally glancing over at the coastline of England in order to maintain course.

"There is more to this than you think, Captain Sparrow," he replies steadily, trying to maintain his composure. In all truth, all Peter wants to do is put a bullet through the pirate's head and have done with it, but Drake would kill him for doing so. So, ignoring the further ramblings of the pirate, Peter continues to row for the island.

Jack, meanwhile, sits up in the boat and looks around, noticing the England shoreline not far off. Despite his aching head, he manages to conjure up an image of Sadie in his mind in order to calm his nerves. He smiles, a small one at first, before it spreads all the way across his face. Peter gives him a strange look, confused at first, then turning into one of jealousy when he realizes the pirate is thinking about Sadie. His hands grip the oars in a vice, but he says nothing. Better to wait and kill him than get them both drowned halfway out at sea.

Jack fiddles with an end of his headscarf, thinking wistfully back to the day when the young Sadie gave it to him. The weather around him is very similar to how it was that day. Jack remembers numerous moments with his Sadie, each of them invoking different feelings within him. Like the day he finally discovered her, or the first time they kissed in his cabin; the first time she said "I love you…"

"_I love you, I love you…God knows I love you, Mister Jack." _

Jack laughs to himself quietly, looking away from Peter out to sea. He didn't think twice about jumping the man and snapping his neck and row all the way back to Port Royal, but being Captain Sparrow and having to be kidnapped in order to accomplish something meant there was, as Peter said, more to it than just the two men in a dinghy. Jack sighs, clenching the end of his headscarf and whispering his love's name on the wind.

- - -

Morgan groans as the child before him continues to screech and howl into the night. Little Harper Rose is trying to sing her way out of confinement. The man and child are sitting inside of a cave, sanctioned away from prying eyes, on the coastline of Portugal closest to the Atlantic. Morgan is having a significantly difficult time trying to keep himself from throttling the small girl as she shrieks in her song for help. He gave up trying to stop her hours ago. Harper Rose, in all of her cunning, figures that if she can at least get the man to leave her alone for a brief time, she might be able to figure a way out of his hold. Unfortunately for her, her plan has yet to work. So she continues on, holding her little hands to her heart and filling the cave with her voice. Her vocals are in fact normally very melodic and beautiful, but if the moment called for bad singing, Harper was always prepared to do so.

Morgan, in an attempt to distract himself from the child's horrendous racket, plants his hands over his ears and runs over the plan in his mind, trying desperately to ignore the sound of the child's voice growing steadily louder. He only manages to ponder a few words. Infuriated, he gets to his feet and stomps out of the cave into the night, yelling over his shoulder at the child to stay put. Harper continues to sing until he is far out of sight, and when he has passed into the darkness completely, she halts and sits down, grabbing a stick from nearby and drawing in the sand. The man had not bothered to blindfold the little girl upon arriving in Portugal, a terrible mistake on his part. She knew how to get away from the cave, where to hide, and where to head for the mainland. All that she has to do, she realizes, is manage to sneak away. As her father so often told her, "Wait for the opportune moment." Seeing as how her captor is all the way down the beach, Harper cannot see another 'opportune moment' occurring in the near future. She listens briefly for the sound of Morgan's footsteps; when she hears nothing, she gathers herself together and walks towards the lip of the cave, looking around in the darkness. She hesitates when she thinks of her father, perhaps on his way to rescue her at that very moment. If she leaves, would he ever find her? Harper tries to swallow her nervousness, but to no avail.

"If papa gets here and I'm gone," she whispers to herself, leaning back against the wall of the cave, "what then?" She hears Morgan's footsteps coming back up the beach towards the cave. She lingered too long. Harper darts back inside the cave, clearing away the sand and beginning to draw pictures. Morgan enters the cave brusquely, muttering obscenities under his breath.

"Good," he growls out as he slumps against the wall, "you've shut that no good trap a' yours." Harper glares at him and pokes her tongue out, but he's looking down at the sand, fighting away the sleep trying to overcome him. The cave falls silent save for the sound of Harper's stick scratching away at the sand.

"So," she says, trying to sound pleasant as compared to earlier. "What's your plan, then?" Papa taught her a very useful thing: try and catch your opponent when he is most vulnerable to questioning. Morgan nods his head and grunts.

"We wait here," he replies, rubbing at his eyes with his fists. "We wait for word from Drake, then we go to Singapore."

"What'll be in Singapore?" Harper prods, getting on her hands and knees and crawling over to the groggy giant of a man. Morgan swats at the open air in front of Harper's face.

"Leave me alone, you wretched cur," he grumbles. "When he's got your pretty mum in Singapore, we meet him there."

"I get to go back to my mama?" Harper shrieks, too excited for her own good. Morgan growls and smacks at the girl, sending her rolling into the sand. Shocked, Harper jumps back up to her feet, holding her burning cheek in her little hand. Morgan makes no motion to apologize.

"To lure Captain Sparrow, little one," he says. "Now, go to sleep, or I'll make you, and it won't be a painless ordeal."

Harper scampers over to the back of the cave, cradling her cheek in her hands and whimpering to herself. What had her family done to deserve this?

- - -

Sadie jerks awake when she hears someone knocking at the door. She rubs away the sleep from her eyes and sits up in bed, trying to recollect her wits. Whoever had been knocking enters the room, but the woman doesn't notice them. She is staring at the sheets of the bed, the footboard, smelling the air around her. The entire place smells of Jack, and it almost sends her back into darkness. Sadie wraps her arms around herself and curls up tightly, as if trying to shield herself from the thought of her love when she knows he is nowhere nearby. The other person in the room walks towards her carefully, whispering her name. Sadie looks at them and sighs.

"Lizzie," she says. Elizabeth comes to her side and presses the back of her hand against Sadie's brow, her worried face relaxing slightly.

"At least you're not ill," she tells her sister, getting back up off the bed and returning with a tray of food. Elizabeth watches as Sadie wolfs down all of the wood and water, a flush coming to her otherwise pale features. To get the poor woman back to good health is the entire crew's primary goal; getting her back to Jack Sparrow comes to a close second. Since the two objectives go rather hand in hand, their best bet is to get her back to the Captain and have him worry about her food intake. Elizabeth surveys her charge as she eats, frequently checking her temperature and pulse. When the food is gone, Sadie takes to getting out of bed, rolling her ankles and neck to relieve the stiffness there. She looks around the cabin, her throat tightening just by looking at the window panes.

"Please tell me we'll find him, Lizzie," she whispers. Elizabeth takes the other woman into her arms and rocks her back and forth, nodding assuredly.

"You will see Jack again, Sadie," she replies, placing a hand on the back of the trembling woman's head. "Just give it some time." Sadie nods, gripping onto the fabric of her skirts until her knuckles turn white.

**- - -**

**I have to apologize. That was some serious crap, but I wanted to get something out for you lovely readers to – hopefully – enjoy. **

**Rachel**


	14. On Earth As It Is In Heaven

It's been so long, I wouldn't blame anyone for abandoning this story, but I've been in need of some Sadie/Jack (blame playing P

**It's been so long, I wouldn't blame anyone for abandoning this story, but I've been in need of some Sadie/Jack (blame playing Pirates Online) and a break from the WWII novel. **

**This chapter is for SparrowsVixon, who sent me a PM and inadvertently kicked my butt in gear. **

_Seasons may change,_

_Winter to spring,_

_But I'll love you,_

_Until the end of time…_

Moulin Rouge – Come What May

- - -

Sadie awakes in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, thrashing her legs and battling invisible hands with teeth, hands and nails. A soft, demanding voice calls her name repeatedly, but the woman continues to cry out despondently in her hoarse voice, ignorant to the person trying to make her focus. When the hands release her, Sadie collapses into the mattress in a fit of sobs, wringing her fingers around locks of limp, yellow hair. Now fully comprehensive, the woman feels the weight of her loss pressing down against her heart so heavily that she finds it difficult to breathe. Sadie recognizes the presence of the Turners standing at her bedside, but can't bring herself to look at them lest they see her in her state of complete misery.

"William," she whispers, peeking out from the crook of her arm. The young man gives his wife a brief look before kneeling beside Sadie's bed, hesitant to touch her after having her scratch him in her sleep. He waits patiently for her to say something, rocking back and forth on the balls of his bare feet. A minute passes by, then two, before the woman begins to sit up from her fetal position on the bed. William uprights himself and meets her eye-level, waiting for her to speak.

"William," she whispers again, "take me to Singapore."

Elizabeth and her husband steal a shocked glance at one another, and William chances laying a hand on Sadie's arm. Rather than flinching, she looks up into his eyes with the grim look of determination.

"What's in Singapore?" he asks carefully, not taking his eyes off of hers. Sadie blinks and gets to her feet, stepping past William to stand by the window. She stays silent for a moment before turning her gaze over her shoulder to look at the man standing behind her.

"I'm not entirely sure," she says evenly, "but it's where Jack told me to go, and I intend to listen to him."

"Sadie, are you sure you don't need more sleep?" comes Elizabeth's plea by the door. "It might be best, you've been through so much-"

"No!" Cries the woman, flushing from the ferment of the moment. "I won't sleep until I have my family back. Chart a course for Singapore, Mr. Turner," Sadie orders, turning on the young couple with a new fire burning in the blue recesses of her eyes. "If you need me, I'll be in my cabin." Without another word, Sadie walks out of the room with all certainty in her step, leaving her two bewildered friends staring after her.

- - -

Peter rolls his eyes and sends the fidgeting man a seething glare from the other end of the boat for the third time that evening while his hand rests on the pole of an oar, itching to lift it and send it cracking against the pirate captain's skull. Sparrow snorts in his sleep and rolls around in the end of the boat, rocking it back and forth and causing some water to come rolling in over the sides. Peter curses and rows harder, checking over his shoulder time and again to spot their distance from shore.

"Just a little farther, Sparrow, and you'll be out of my hair once and for all." This seemed enough to wake the captain from his stupor, at least to let out a chuckle and shake his head back and forth.

"You know you're deeply, madly, hopelessly in love with me, Mouse. No use denying it now, eh?" Jack looks across at the younger man from his splayed position, his eyes dark and shining from his sinister humor. "S'just you and me, in a little boat, all on our onesies…"

"Hold your tongue, Sparrow!" Peter shouts, just as the dinghy lands with a jolt on a beach. Peter, caught unawares, flies out from the vessel feet over head to land ungraciously in the sand. Jack sits up and climbs gracefully out of the boat, stepping over the lad and stretching his hands over his head.

"Nice little spit you've chosen, Mouse," he says offhandedly, picking at the grime beneath his fingernails as he waits for Peter to compose himself. After dusting the sand from his trousers, the young man steps forward with a grimace and grabs Sparrow by the arm, growling at him to follow. Jack does so without protest, only with an ignorant smile and a skip in his step. It had been a rough dream, out there on the water, but it gave him a chance to speak to Sadie, however the disembodied discussion actually worked. There were no visions of her face, just the sweet airy quality of her voice and the feather soft whispers of her touch against his face. As he and Peter walked, Jack wondered if she had felt him in her sleep, as well. Just that little dream had put the pirate in a far greater mood than he would have expected of himself, being captured and all.

_"Come to Singapore, love." _His words echo in his head as Peter shoves him into a dank cave to hide for the rest of the night. Jack says nothing to the boy, merely lays out on the sand and tips his hat over his eyes, recalling the dream.

_"Where are you, Jack?" _

_"Singapore…come to Singapore…" _

Within moments, Jack is asleep again, leaving Peter to his own devices. In the dark of the cave, the young man reaches into his vest pocket and retrieves the citrine pearl from within, lighting a few square feet of cave wall with a dull, yellow light. The little thing that had started so much trouble was sitting docile in his grasp, waiting for its next victim, looking nothing more than a pretty piece of jewelry waiting to be hung around a long, pale neckline. Peter wants to crush it, see what might happen, but he can't seem to bring himself to do it. Instead he lets it roll into the palm of his hand and wraps his fingers around it tightly, pressing his fist up against his drawn lips. What did Drake Dansen have in store for Sparrow? What about for himself? Peter shudders at the thought of what Drake's capacity for violence might be. Not wanting to feel the slight burn of the pearl in his hand, the young man slips the little bobble into his vest pocket and leans against the wall of the cave, letting loose a long strained sigh before closing his tired eyes and allowing sleep to claim him.

On the other side of the cave, Sparrow opens his own eyes and glares across at the whelp looking oh so peaceful in the darkness. The pirate leans up and folds his arms, resting them against a bent knee with the other leg stretched out in front of him. There is nothing but silence where they rest, but the cave is still filled with the tangible fury of the pirate captain held captive by a man, a _boy, _intent on ruining his life. Jack huffs, a bull-like snort, and turns his eyes away towards to the opening of the cave. Would it be worth it to make a run for it? Get in the dinghy brought up on shore and row for his life back to Sadie? Jack's heart beats against his chest hard at the thought of her name. The captain releases a painful groan of dismay and longing, bashing his head against the cave wall in an attempt to rid himself of the thought of her, if only temporarily. But it is of no use. Unbidden images of Sadie, his Sadie, wrap around his mind and turn his body to flames, and it takes all of Jack's control not to call out her name just to hear it roll off his tongue. He sees her as if she is standing right there before him in that dank cave, the sun shining in her perfect, endless yellow hair, her blue eyes turned on him and asking, _begging, _for him to take her in and love her and never let her go. There is the demand for his all in her eyes, the demand for flesh and love and tears and everything he had hidden away in his heart before meeting her. Jack's eyes begin to sting, and still his body lay aflame in the warmth of her very image. _Sadie, _he whispers in his mind_. _The ache, the need, becomes almost painful for the poor captain. The closer she comes to him, the harder his heart beats against the inside of his chest; the more vivid her appearance, the more his eyes sting; the imagined touch of her fingers against the bullet hole scars on his chest sends him falling, falling, into a madness that leaves him gasping and sweating and clutching cave sand in his hands as though they were the sheets they slept in together.

Jack opens his eyes blearily, as if seeing the world for the very first time. Everything is hazy and blurred, and he realizes he is crying. Frantically, the captain wipes the tears away with the sleeve of his shirt and stares at the ground between his legs, trying to catch his breath. Rather than look, he hears Peter snoring away on the opposite side of the cave, content to have everything playing in his hand. Jack sneers at the ground and looks up, noticing for the first time the sun peeking over the horizon. How did the time go by so fast? There was no time to linger on it. Brushing the last few tears from his eyes, Jack readjusts himself and curls into a ball, pretending to be asleep as Peter wakes from his own dreams.

"Well Sparrow," he says in a groggy tone, "sleep well all by yourself?"

Jack smiles as he tips up his hat, and looking over at Peter, gives him a cocky leer that takes the boy aback for a moment.

"Slept real well, mate," he says, standing and stretching himself out to reveal Sadie's effect on him, even in the realm of sleep, to the boy, "had a little night visit by a lady of mine." Peter's blush and angry glare has Jack guffawing as he saunters out the cave, still wearing a satisfied grin on his determined face.

- - -

Sadie shoots up from bed with a cry, nearly launching herself off the bed in her suddenness. She gasps for breath as she wipes sweat away from her brow and a few stray tears from her cheeks before noticing her state of disarray. Her nightshift is askew around her knees and the bed sheets crumpled against the footboard, and most of her hair is plastered against her back from sweat. Taking in gulps of cool air, Sadie tries to determine why she had woken up in such a state. The air in the cabin wasn't nearly hot enough to cause her to break out in a sweat, and she had gone to sleep relatively calm. It isn't until she remembers Jack's special visit in her dream that Sadie realizes just what her state is. A furious blush rises to her already flushed cheeks and she clamps her legs together, burying her face in her shaking hands.

"Jesus," she moans, a pained laugh escaping from her. Jack's absence in her current state is rather unfortunate, she thinks, knowing that the man always took advantage of it when she was. He'd run his fingers over the glistening sweat on her belly or his lips across the plane of her shoulders, inhaling her scent through his nose and just cherishing her everything. Sadie suddenly feels drenched in cold and the tears prickle the back of her eyes at the thought of her Jack, out there alone, trying to look for their precious daughter. A new wave of grief falls over Sadie at the thought of little Harper Rose, kidnapped like her father, alone with no good person to sing her bedtime stories or tuck her into bed. Sadie holds back and sob and shakes her head, pulling her hands away form her face and planting them firmly on the bed. With determination, Sadie gets up from the mess of sheets and pillows and makes her way over to her old clothes chest, the one filled with clothes that she had never worn. Before throwing it open she takes a glance out the window, pleased to see Singapore looming on the distant horizon. Sadie begins to dig through her unworn clothes with fervor, set on finding something suitable for her current escapade. She finds a pair of faded blue-grey slacks and a white sash, which she throws on the bed before digging further. From the bottom of the trunk she pulls out a wrinkled blouse of a bright blue color, bordering on white, and that too she tosses on the bed over her shoulder. Lastly, Sadie retrieves a vest matching the color of her slacks and throws that over her shoulder, slamming the lid of the trunk shut and turning on her bare heel towards the bed. Face set in determination, Sadie peels her nightshift from her cooled body and begins to dress, eyes focused on the sight of Singapore on the horizon outside of the little window.

Sadie arrives on deck not long after William and Elizabeth come up from mess, looking about the ship in search of Gibbs. William is the first to notice Sadie's new attire, which he points out to his wife with a smile. The other woman grins and starts towards her sister, but William holds her back when he notices Sadie and Gibbs conversing close to each other, away from any others. Elizabeth watches them for a moment before turning around to look at her husband, a confused look on her face.

"What's going on, Will?"

The blacksmith shrugs his shoulders and holds his wife close to him. He watches as Gibbs face darkens when Sadie says something to him. A moment later, Cotton is called to man the helm as Sadie and Gibbs walk down the stairs and into Jack's cabin, shutting the door with a finalizing _click _behind them. William furrows his brow and releases Elizabeth to go over to the absent captain's cabin. He raises his hand to knock when the door opens suddenly, revealing Gibbs with a grim look on his face. The older man looks at William and sighs.

"This is the worst I seen 'er," he mutters as he shuts the door behind him and rests against it, facing William. "She don't let me see it, but I do anyway – she's hurtin', bad. Says Singapore's where we'll find Jack, but I ain't so sure, 'specially when she's like this. Ain't never a good idea to trust a woman when she be sportin' some fever."

"Fever?"

Gibbs nods and glances over his shoulder at the window before turning back to William.

"Aye. Not bad, she just ain't feelin' so great with all this Jack business…"

"Understandable. Are we still sailing for Singapore?"

The first mate nods again and takes a swig from his flask. "Aye. May as well do as she's askin' or run the risk of Jack flayin' us all when he gets back."

William steps away as Gibbs walks out into the light, bowing his head as he walks back up the stairs to stand next to Cotton. William turns back towards the door and takes a deep breath before putting his hand on the knob and turning it. The latch shifts and the door opens, revealing the dark interior of Jack's cabin. Turner steps inside, scanning the room for Sadie, until he finds her, perched on the edge of Jack's sea chest by the black round table, fingering what looks like a large silver ring between her fingers.

"Sadie?" he mutters into the musky air. The woman doesn't look up at him, but sighs.

"Hello, Will. I'm sure Gibbs has told you I'm a total nutter and that we're on a fool's errand, going to Singapore."

William smiles and kneels next to Jack's woman, trying to get her to look into his eyes.

"Sadie, there is no fool's errand when the life of your family is at stake. We all trust you, even Gibbs, despite his disposition that may say otherwise." This little comment causes the woman to smile, which gives William some hope for the situation. The smile is gone as quickly as it came, unfortunately, and Sadie bows her head deeper.

"I miss him, Will. And Harper…oh, my god," she chokes, clenching the ring and pressing her hands up to her face to hide her tears. "Everything is gone, Will! I don't know if Jack's in Singapore, I don't even know if Harper is still alive, but I can't stop and give up!" William waits as she releases all of her pent up miseries, resting a complacent and supportive hand on her knee. "I can barely remember what it's like to hold her in my arms, or to have Jack with me. I should have cherished them more, Will; I should have been a better woman for Jack and Harper to rely on…"

William sighs and gathers the trembling woman in his arms, pressing a hand against the back of her head and shushing her quiet sobs. Sadie grasps his shoulders with all of her might and doesn't let go until her crying ceases, when she leans up and wipes her face with her sleeve and lets out a shaky sigh. Sadie looks down at William and gives him a watery smile, attempting to brush away her tears from his coat.

"I'm sorry," she says, meeting his gaze, "for everything. For taking you away from your home and your son just so you might help me save Jack and Harper…I'm selfish, really," she says, shaking her head. William chuckles and stands, bringing Sadie up with him.

"Don't think about it," he replies, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. As he leads her away from the chest and towards the exit, the door of the cabin swings open violently, revealing a distraught Elizabeth and the sound of Gibbs' frantic voice coming from above.

"There's a ship, Will," Elizabeth says hurriedly, making for the woman at his side, "and I think they've come for Sadie."

- - -

**Well folks, I hope that was moderately enjoyable and somewhat of a make-up for all the time I've been absent from this story. I've missed these two, seriously. Forgive me? I tried to give a little romance to this chapter, too, to make up for it. I love you all, and I hope some of you are still in the mood to read. **

**Love,**

**Rachel**


	15. When Angels Touch the Ground

Dear readers

**Dear readers! I hope you've all been having a wonderful summer – I've been busy busy busy writing this other novel, and now it's time for a little Jack & Sadie R&R. Keep the reviews coming, please! It means a lot to me, and I know you've got your alerts on…;) **

_I'm broken down, hungry for your love_

_And no way to feed it._

_Where are you tonight? _

_You know how much I need it. _

_Too young to hold on,_

_Too old to break free and run…_

Jamie Cullum – Lover, You Should've Come Over

- - -

"For Sadie?" mutters William in disbelief. "But, how do you know they've come for her?"

Sadie steps out of the cabin first, shielding the bright sun from her eyes with her hand. Gibbs is quiet and the sails are furled, anticipating the boarding of the new crew. William and Elizabeth follow close behind, looking not nearly as composed as their friend now standing at the railing of the _Pearl, _hands on her hips and long, golden hair streaming behind her in the wind. She turns her head to look over her shoulder at her friends and gives them a reassuring smile.

"Whatever they want, Will, I'll be sure to handle it accordingly, savvy?"

Elizabeth blinks dumbly before turning to her husband. "When did she turn into Jack?" Before William can reply, a man from the opposite ship appears, a dark and brooding shadow unaffected by the brightness of the day. Sadie holds up her hand and the figure mounts the gangplank placed between the two ships, taking long and leisurely strides over to the _Pearl. _The deck trembles when the man jumps onto the ship.

"State yer business," orders Gibbs from his place by the Turners. The man approaches Sadie with the same sure strides, his boots heavy upon the wood of the _Pearl. _As he closes in on her, he lifts his head.

"Missus Sparrow." The man bends at the waist only a little before standing up to his full height, easily towering over the woman. "You don't know me," he says, reaching out a large, pale hand towards Sadie's upturned face, "but I'm sure you'll be wanting to soon enough…" Sadie turns away with an angry jerk just as her three friends jump to go to her aid. She holds up a hand to keep them at bay.

"Let's start with a name," she says. The man smiles and runs a hand through his long, black curly hair in an attempt to appear charming and perhaps even debonair.

"Dansen," he says with a Cheshire grin, "but I'll let you call me Drake if you feel so inclined."

"Then you can feel free to call me Sadie, within limits. What brings you aboard the _Pearl, _Mr. Dansen?"

Drake takes a glance over at the riled Turners and Gibbs, giving them the slightest leer. William glares back while Elizabeth grips her husband's arm. Drake brings his gaze back to Sadie, standing akimbo and looking deliciously stubborn and full of spunk.

"Why, I'm just here for you, love," he says. Drake leans in close, his handsome but unshaven face right up next to the woman's head. "I've already gotten your Captain; keepin' him safe and sound on a little island with Peter Codney." Sadie's breath hitches, giving Drake reason to smile. He tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear and digs the knife a little deeper. "And your little girl, she's as well off as her old man. But she's awfully sad, and she misses her mum…" Drake steps back too glean the woman's tearful reaction, only to be met in surprise by the look of cool determination upon her beautiful face.

"Have you forgotten about your family already, Missus Sparrow?" he says, hoping still to find a crack in her armor. "Or has the Captain turned you into a heartless pirate in love with no one but herself?" No avail. Sadie merely takes a step closer to Dansen and looks up at him.

"Take me to them," she whispers, "and I won't sink your ship and leave you in the brig to rot."

Drake smiles. "An interesting exchange, but not one I won't say no to." He reaches out and grasps Sadie by the arm, hoping to bruise the pale skin that must be hidden beneath the pale blue fabric of her blouse. Behind them, Elizabeth reacts with a shout. Sadie turns her head as William attempts to hold his wife back.

"Are you sure?" He says, trying to put the question in his eyes. Sadie meets the gazes of all three of her friends and smiles at them.

"I'm Jack's, remember? Keep sailing." With a jerk, Sadie is veered around and hauled across the gangplank by Dansen, her knee-high boot heels knocking against the wood until landing on the deck of the opposite ship with her captor. A crew skitters out of the hull and makes quick work of the sails and the plank, while Sadie and Dansen disappear into what could only be the Captain's cabin.

From the _Pearl, _Gibbs, Will and Elizabeth watch as the other ship sails away with their friend aboard. The silence is heavy on the entire crew, and Elizabeth is shaking in all of her anger and confusion.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" She cries, tearing away from Will's grasp and fleeing into Sparrow's cabin. Gibbs turns to the younger man, muttering a curse under his breath.

"She said to keep sailing," William states, meeting Gibbs' cursing with some of his own. "To Singapore?"

Gibbs nods. "Aye. Can't say I know what to do once we get there, but we'd better get there all the same."

As Gibbs walks away to man the helm, William turns and calls out, "Are you sure she'll be alright? We don't know what he's capable of!" Gibbs pauses on the stairs and sighs. He pats the railing and shrugs.

"Lord if I know, but this is Sparrow's lass we're talking about. She's tougher than this whole ship, herself. That I can put my money on. Now, get to that wife of yours before she burns Jack's cabin down."

- - -

Harper sighs as she kicks at a stone lodged in the sand on the beach. She had lost track of the days as soon as she and Mr. Salis got to the little island. The little despondent girl picks up the stone out of the sand and turns it around in her fingers, holding it in her tiny palm for just a moment before gripping it and flinging it out to sea. She turns her gaze down the long, lonesome shoreline, wanting to do nothing more than take a walk around the island and see all the big trees and get away from the huge, angry man inside the cave behind her.

"No leaving my sight," he had said to her a few days prior, "can't move past where the cave walls end and can't go out in the water." Thinking about it, Harper rolls her eyes and shakes her head. She wasn't raised on 'what you can't do', but 'what can't you do?' Mr. Salis doesn't know any better, Harper decides, and a little blossom of pity blooms in her heart. She turns around and looks at the sulking man leaning against the cave wall, whittling a piece of driftwood with a dull knife, looking more pensive than focused on his work. She smiles and begins to walk back toward him, thinking of what she might say to appeal to his good side. When she finally comes to stand by his side, Harper has to tug on his trouser leg to get his attention. Morgan shakes his head to pull himself away from thoughts of his dead sister and looks down at the little girl who has been his company for some days now.

"What do you want?"

Unperturbed by Mr. Salis' gruffness, Harper grins up at him.

"Can't we go walk around the island, Mr. Salis? You must be as bored of this cave as I am – and who likes being bored?"

Morgan huffs and crosses his arms, turning his face away from the child's inquisitive eyes.

"No use in trying, kid. We stay here. Can't do anything else, so leave it."

Harper presses further. "But, your boss-man isn't here to keep tabs on you, or what you do. And where am I going to go except in the water? Why _can't _you go and see the island while we have time?" As soon as Harper sees Mr. Salis' thoughtful eyebrow raise, she knows she hooked him. Morgan looks down at Harper again and lets a long exhale out through his nose. Without a word, he pockets his knife and his disfigured bit of wood and begins walking out onto the beach. Harper follows a few feet behind, tentative and wanting to give the man his space.

They walk in silence down the long expanse of the beach, taking mutual comfort in the warmth of the sun and the sound of the water crashing down upon the sand just feet away from them. Morgan mostly ignores the little girl walking along next to him, but still listens to the pattern of the fall of her footsteps on the sand, as well as his own. He knows he shouldn't have given in to the girl's reverse psychology, but a walk had sounded so nice, to hell with Dansen's orders.

Behind Morgan, Harper watches the man brood as he walks, taking in everything about him in all of her youthful curiosity. _He talks like he's nothing but bad,_ she thinks, _but he's really like a big bear who doesn't know how to be good. _Harper smiles to herself and walks a little closer to Morgan, still gazing up at him. From his short, rusty blonde hair, wide shoulders, stocky legs and bull-like musculature, her captor looked every part the bully. Harper takes another skip closer to Morgan and silently begs for him to look at her. He finally sighs and looks down at Harper, his stride lessening. Blue eyes meet blue eyes. The two come to a standstill, competing in a stare off of wills with Harper quickly coming out on top. Morgan flinches when the little girl turns her face into a pitiful display of sadness.

"Why?" She asks. The man shuts his eyes and grimaces before turning on his heel and continuing his walk. Harper catches up within moments and asks again, "Why?" Morgan pauses again, taking a deep inhale of the salty air before replying.

"You're too young to understand, lass." He turns and kneels before Sparrow's daughter, laying a large and heavy hand upon the back of her fragile neck. "You're not the one we want; you're just the easiest way to get to that pa of yours."

"Then why do you want him?" She implores. Morgan takes his hand away from the child's neck and buries his face in his palm.

"_I _don't want Sparrow. I'm just in this for my sister."

"Your sister?"

Morgan looks away from Harper's benevolent and unyielding gaze and digs his fingers into the sand.

"She died. And all this with you and your family is just a way for me to get my revenge." Even as he goes quiet, Harper launches herself forward and wraps her arms around Morgan's thick neck, refusing to let go even as the man struggles to get out of her grasp. He finally resigns himself to her embrace with some hesitation.

"Papa says revenge isn't any better than the original crime, and that the fellows going out for revenge aren't any better than the original crime-doer. And you're not really a crime-doer, are you Mr. Salis?"

Morgan grunts and forcefully pulls himself away from the child, causing her to topple haphazardly forwards. Instant reaction has Morgan grabbing her by the waist to keep her on her feet. The captor looks at his tiny victim and knows that even if he wanted to, he couldn't do anything wrong by her. _Damnit, _he curses to himself. This isn't what he signed up for! Morgan huffs again and gets to his feet, planting the child firmly on her own before dusting off his knees.

"Go ahead and find something to do," he says. Harper looks up at the man, staring at him in thoughtful silence before her face breaks into a wide grin. In a moment, she embraces Morgan around the waist before tearing off down the beach, skipping and hopping and rolling around like all little girls do when they're happy. Morgan watches after her retreating form for only a minute or two before turning and making his way back to the cave to wait for the child's return.

- - -

_Kill him. _

No.

_Just kill him and get it over with! _

No.

_He's caused enough trouble as it is, just off him and escape in the boat! _

No!

Jack Sparrow punches the cave wall with an angry snort, hitting his knuckles against the cool, wet stone repetitiously until his hand is bleeding. A dull, amused chuckle comes up behind him, and the little voice says it again.

_Kill the whelp! _

"I knew you wouldn't keep it together forever, Sparrow," says Codney, picking out sand from beneath his fingernails. "Now it's just a matter of time before you finally crack and I can torture you all I want for taking what was rightfully mine."

Jack rolls his eyes and turns around to face the boy, crossing his arms and giving him a poignant glare.

"You're still all tizzied about that? _Pffft. _It'll take a lot more than your measly, child-like excuse for 'revenge' to get me to 'crack' as you say, and a hell of a lot more to get me to give _her _up." Jack begins to head for the opening of the cave when Peter's voice calls his attention back.

"Who said anything about _giving, _Jack?"

The Captain seizes up, his fists clenching and shoulders locking, but with some struggle he manages to walk out of the cave without turning around and pummeling the bastard into a bloody mess. Peter's laughter follows him all the way down the beach and off past the boy's eyesight. After regaining his composure – or whatever is left of it – Jack walks up the beach a ways away from the cave's opening and climbs up the little hill covering it, enjoying the feel of the wind dancing its way through his hair and his clothes on the way up. He begins to hum to himself, one of his last ways of keeping himself sane, as he wanders around the crest of the hill, kicking up clumps of dirt and rocks with his lazy foot. Jack looks up and out to the grand horizon, taking a deep inhale of the sea air and feeling better for it.

"I'll be back soon, Sadie," he promises on the wind, closing his eyes and picturing her in his happy mind. Everything around Jack falls silent save for the crashing waves, and stays that way for a few peaceful minutes before he hears something new on the wind.

Singing.

Jack opens his eyes and listens harder, his feet leading him across the flat crest of the hill towards the tiny sound, away from his cave and over towards the opposite side of the island. A little dark spot on the beach catches his eye, and he watches as it skitters across the sand in circles, arms up in the air and splashing water all over itself. Jack crouches down in the tall grass and stalks closer to the edge of the hill, feeling with his hands for any steep drop offs and keeping his eyes on the tiny figure. As he inches closer, the singing becomes clearer, and a knot begins to form in Sparrow's stomach.

"Yo ho, yo ho, _un vie des pirates pour moi!_"

He knows that voice, and that adorable French singing accent. Jack bites his tongue as he pokes his face through the grass. He is met with the gleeful sight of his daughter dancing in the surf, singing her papa's song in French as her mother taught her. Jack feels lightheaded, woozy, perhaps even a little ill, but the all-encompassing joy he feels throws all else away. Jack tries to fight the grin threatening to spill over, but it does anyway. Even despite her predicament, his little Harper Rose knows how to have a good time.

Sparrow crouches deeper into the grass and waits for the sound of Harper's feet on the dry sand of the upper beach before gluing his tongue to the back of his teeth and letting out three sharp, high-pitched tweets, a literal sparrow call, in rapid succession. He watches as Harper stops dancing and perks her head up, listening intently for the sound. Jack repeats the sound, _fweet, fweet, fweet, _and his daughter turns about and looks directly up at her father hiding in the grass but not seeing him. She shields the sun from her eyes with both of her tiny hands before letting out the same call, _fweet, fweet, fweet, _looking up at the hill with excited expectancy.

With painful slowness, Jack rises out of the grass head first, keeping his eyes on his daughter while keeping his ears open for either of their captors. He puts a finger to his lips as he rises to his full height out of the grass, and his daughter dutifully nods and stays glued to her spot, waiting for her father to come down to her. Jack takes a quick survey of their surroundings, checking for Codney or whomever had taken his daughter, before crouching down and putting a hand on the edge of the hill where it had broken off, leaving a sharp ten foot drop for him to fall. With a swift count, Jack jumps off of the hill and lands gracefully in the sand a few feet from Harper, who doesn't wait for an invitation. Jack, anticipating his child's excitement, immediately opens his arms for her and doesn't try to stay upright when she pummels into him, arms locking around the back of his neck. The two fall into the sand, Jack caging his daughter in his arms like his life depends on it, and Harper adamantly trying to do the same.

"Papa!" Harper giggles into her father's neck, knowing better than to alert the whole island of her joy by screaming. Jack says nothing as he buries his face in the girls hair, grinning like a mad fool and rocking back and forth in the sand. After a few minutes, Jack leans up and sits Harper on his lap, holding her jumping body still before beginning his survey of her. Sparrow checks for everything from the top of the girl's head to her last toe, nervous to find a single scratch on her. There is a slight bruise on her left temple, but is otherwise completely unharmed. Harper giggles throughout the entire examination, particularly when her father goes for her feet. Jack beams at his daughter as he tickles her, not caring if she alerts someone to their location with her peals of laughter. Jack laughs to himself, ceasing his torture on his child and gathering her into his arms again, reveling in the joy of having her there at last.

"Is papa alright?" Harper asks, playing with her favorite bead entangled in Jack's hair. The Captain nods and strokes the back of the girl's head.

"Papa's fine, little one. You had me scared outta my wits, though. But I forgive you."

Harper giggles and nuzzles herself deeper into her father's embrace, feeling such comfort at last that sleep feels imminent.

"Is papa going to stay?" she mutters, half-asleep already. Jack sighs.

"Where's your cave?"

Harper leans up and blearily points in the direction of where she had left Mr. Salis alone in their cave.

"And is the mean man there?" Jack continues. Harper begins to nod, but her eyes open up a little more and she looks at her father.

"Mr. Salis isn't a bad man, papa," she explains, "He just doesn't know how to handle his sadiness."

"Sadness," Jack corrects, "and what about it?"

"His sister died, and he's just confused and wants to get revenge for her death."

"But you know, revenge isn't any better than the original crime-"

"-And the fellows going out for revenge aren't any better than the original crime-doer. I told him," she finishes, nodding. "I don't think Mr. Salis is the bad man, papa."

"Then I got the bad one," he grumbles. Harper leans forward and touches the tip of her nose to Jacks. They both close their eyes and Sparrow tightens his hold on his daughter, unwilling to release her from his grasp anytime soon. Unfortunately for the Sparrows, neither Jack nor his daughter had the bad man.

- - -

**Yay! Partial family reunion! Enjoy, and let's**__**leave more than 5 reviews this time around, savvy? **

**Love,**

**Rachel**


	16. The Wind Cries Mary

**Dear readers: thank you for the reviews! I've been slacking here again, but senior year is ALMOST over, I just published my WWII novel (message me for the link!) and I'm going to NYC for college – lots of big stuff happening in a very short span of time...but I just got bothered for an update here, so I guess I owe it to you all to do so ASAP! I've missed you, my dear readers. **

"_Nothing's ever as it seems_

_Climb the ladder to your dreams_

_If I die before you wake_

_Don't you cry, don't you weep,_

_Nothing's ever yours to keep_

_Close your eyes; go to sleep."_

Tom Waits – Lullaby

- - -

Looking closely at Dansen, Sadie can see how he might be a dangerous man to an unsuspecting, unattached woman from a well-to-do background. He carries himself like a nobleman but looks like the swaggering and all-too-devilish kind of pirate that proper ladies can't help but fawn over; handsome features, thick, curly black hair, rugged stubble, hands the size of dinner plates – Sadie blinks fiercely to rid the image of Jack's hands and all the amazing things they're capable of – from her mind. Now is not the time. The atmosphere within Dansen's cabin is tense, but the man standing by the window makes no sign of being affected by it. Sadie, on the other hand, sits in a plush armchair behind his desk, clutching the arms of it in a vice. She repeatedly has to bite her tongue to stop herself from spitting out something vulgar, often trying to focus again on her captor. _Can he be called captor though? _she wonders, noting the fact that she had essentially volunteered herself for the taking back on the _Pearl. _Sadie grunts under her breath and regards Dansen's swaying figure by the window with subdued petulance.

Dansen, meanwhile, smirks as he looks down into the contents of the glass in his left hand. The spiced amber rum ripples slightly when he dips a finger into the liquid and brings the digit to his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices his company tapping her fingers in impatient succession against the arm of his chair.

"You seem agitated, Missus Sparrow," the man drawls; moving away from the window with a leisurely stride until he sits on the edge of his desk, scant inches away from Sadie and her sensitive personal space. "Is it because of me?" He bends forward at the waist to meet the woman's gaze on the same plane, a spark of amusement flashing in his eyes as he regards her reaction to his proximity.

"You could say that," Sadie grumbles, averting her eyes from his gaze. His eyes are so unlike Jack's, but annoyingly mesmerizing in their own right. She crosses her arms over her chest and huffs. Dansen chuckles and leans back, pushing himself off of his desk and taking to circling the woman in his armchair like a predator.

"I ought to explain myself to you, Missus Sparrow, as what I have done to your precious family is so absolutely despicable." He completes one full circle around the woman. "However, I don't think I will; not yet, in any case. I feel as though I could have _much_ more fun getting you to try and pry the information from me through-" another round around the chair, "-_friendlier _persuasions."

Sadie lets out a laugh, a harsh bark if anything, and sends the man a fierce glare.

"You wish."

Dansen turns on her, his eyes beating down on her.

"I do."

Sadie goes slack jawed for a moment before snapping her mouth shut and glaring at him again. She returns to looking everywhere else except at Dansen, furrowing her brow and keeping her arms folded close to her chest. The man grins, unbeknownst to Sadie, and continues his circling around her.

"So long as you don't attempt any foolishness, you have free reign of the ship. Try to escape, and it'll be the brig for you." Sadie feels her face go pale at the warning. The last time she had been put in a brig…Dansen continues. "Should you try to kill me or one of my men, it'll be the brig." Sadie clenches her eyes shut, struggling to fight off the sickening feeling in her stomach at the thought of it. "If you try to gather my men to mutiny, it'll be the whip."

The room goes eerily quiet. Dansen, so used to being in control of such situations, feels the sudden agony rolling off of the woman before him and finds himself unsure of how to proceed. Sadie, meanwhile, bites her lip to keep from screaming and falling into hysteria, clenching and unclenching her hands into fists. Memories, so many memories, and no Jack to scare them away back into the darkness. So consumed by her bout of silent misery, Sadie doesn't notice the firm hands lifting her into strong arms, the fresh sea air on her face, or the feeling of comfort as she is lain on a cot. When the hands disappear and the sound of a door closing reverberates around her ears, Sadie opens her eyes and unleashes the flood of tears she had tried so hard to keep at bay. She buries her face in a small pillow by her head and curls in on herself, feeling all of the waves of pain crash down upon her. She repeats his name a hundred times until the darkness he had kept away for so long closes in upon her at last, and all of her senses fall into unconsciousness.

- - -

Jack pauses in step, causing Harper to lurch forward before falling backwards against her father's leg. She blinks and looks up at his face, trying to discern the tortured look there. With his free hand, Jack clutches at the fabric covering his heart, still feeling the agonizing burn within his chest. He waits until the organ begins to beat at a normal pace and the fire cools before taking a deep inhale of ocean air and setting his face back into its prior countenance of peace.

"Are you alright, papa?" Harper whispers, tugging on her father's hand. Jack smiles down at his daughter and quickly lifts her into his arms.

"Fine, pet," he mutters into her hair. They walk in silence to the other side of the island where Morgan waits for the return of his charge. A few yards away from the entrance of the cave, Jack places his daughter on her feet and sends her on her way, promising with a wink that he'll see her the next day. Jack watches as she skips away across the sand, illuminated by the colors of the setting sun on the horizon. His heart pulls to follow her, but knowing what might await in the cave and unwilling to test an already fragile situation, he refrains and walks back towards his side of the island. Thumbs hooked in his sash; the captain shuffles his bare feet against the sand, his eyes staring vacantly out at the horizon. Another vision of Sadie fills up his mind and he follows it, almost not caring if he might walk right into the ocean and drown. He unknowingly weaves haphazardly around the beach, grinning like a mad idiot being shown his favorite toy; seeing Sadie, if only his mind, certainly gives Jack another reason to be elated, beyond having his daughter within his sights again. The actual woman would be better, he muses, but considering the circumstances, that could be a while off.

Jack remembers Peter then, on the other side of the island, and his dancing feet come to an abrupt pause. The boy is even more of a nuisance now than he had ever been before, and the captain is stuck with him until a plan of escape formulates in his tricky mind, or until someone comes to he and his daughter's rescue. Jack grimaces, knowing the latter is highly unlikely. With a huff, he kicks up white sand with his bare browned toes and sinks to his haunches, digging his fingers up to the knuckles in warm granules. The waves of high tide inch closer as he mulls over the situation, coming closer and closer until the sand has sucked him up to the wrist. Jack shakes his head to bring himself out of the stupor and wrenches his limb from the clutches of the sand, absently flicking the remains out from under his fingernails.

The captain is despondent, and worried. The pain from before is still sharp in his mind as he begrudgingly makes his way back to his own captor, each step tugging at his heartstrings, telling him to turn about and recover Harper from the clutches of whomever it was that was in league with Codney. He vaguely recalls Harper calling him "Mr. Salis." It was a name, but little else. She had essentially called him a good guy. A _sad_ good guy. Jack grimaces and folds his arms across his chest, disbelief conquering his immediate reaction. No man willing to kidnap a child, _his _child no less, could be a good guy.

The captain closes his eyes and shudders when a gust of pure ocean breeze wraps around him, achingly reminiscent of the times, all those years spent aboard the _Pearl _with his men, and even Sadie. Jack pauses again, his heart thudding obstinately against his ribs. He glares down at his body and kicks up more sand.

"I know. I _know_!" he growls, trying to ignore the constant drumming. "Oh for Davy's sake, leave it alone!" Jack pounds a fist against his chest, trying to make his blows harder than that of his heart. But to no avail; Jack ceases moments after trying and resigns himself to the rest of the walk back to the cave with his bleeding heart.

Upon the captain's return, Peter glances up from his sand drawings and leers at the sight of the dejected man, relishing the thought that he had managed to weave doubt and hopelessness into his mind, which would undoubtedly make it easier for him to take Sadie for his own in the long run. A weak Sparrow meant easy access to the unguarded woman, and the ability to whisk her away on his own whims. Absently rubbing the citrine pearl between his fingertips, Peter leans back against the cave wall and watches as the broken Sparrow sits down heavily on the sand and closes his eyes.

"Given up, Sparrow?" He asks snidely, leaning his head out to try and catch a glimpse of the captain's tears or grief-stricken face. The captain chuckles and looks up at the boy across from him, a knowing smile spreading from ear to ear. Peter is taken aback by the look on the captain's face. "What's wrong with you?"

"Wrong with me?" Jack guffaws, chafing his shins with the gritty palms of his hands. "Laddy, even here with you I've got me the best life this side of heaven. And I don't even _believe _in heaven!" Laughing, Jack picks up his hat from the ground and fixes it on his head dutifully before falling back and letting it tip over his eyes. "You can't do a damn thing to me, Codfish. Remember that."

Silence settles between them, and unbeknownst to either man, they both begin to think of Singapore and what it holds in store for both of them.

- - -

Across the island, Morgan Salis cracks an eye to watch as Harper skips back into the cave, a beaming smile lighting up the entire place. Morgan grunts and closes his eyes again, shifting to make himself even a little bit more comfortable. Harper comes up right to him, stands before the large man's knees for a brief moment, then giggles and swings around to tuck herself into his side. Morgan jumps and his eyes fly open in shock and disbelief, but the tiny girl's hands are remarkably strong and refuse to release him as she wraps her arms halfway around his waist. Harper giggles again, nudging the man with her forehead.

"Go to sleep, Mr. Salis! Papa taught me how to keep watch like a good sailor. I can keep us safe!"

Morgan stares down at the dark curtain of hair surrounding the little girl's head, trying to comprehend just what the little brat is trying to accomplish with her assault. He tries to pry her off of him, but the girl's hold on him doesn't falter. His own sister, even in her youth, never did such a thing to him. Morgan's hand, which had just tried to pull the little girl away from his side, hesitates in the air above Harper's head. The conflicted man had barely thought of his sister since arriving at the island with Sparrow's kid, and the sudden realization surprises him. That's why he had joined up with Dansen in the first place! The hand begins to shake.

_"Revenge isn't any better than the original crime, and that the fellows going out for revenge aren't any better than the original crime-doer."_

Slowly, the hand descends, and in a rare moment of tenderness, Morgan Salis caresses the dark, fragile crown of Harper Sparrow's head and closes his eyes, and smiles when the little girl squeezes his middle in reassurance.

_"And you're not _really_ a crime-doer, are you Mr. Salis?"_

_Nah kid, _he muses as the waves lulls him into a peaceful sleep, _I'm not. At least, I don't want to be. Not anymore. _

- - -

**This was REALLY short and didn't go much of anywhere, but as soon as I have more time and more ideas I promise things will start churning!!! MUCH LOVE! **

**Rachel**


End file.
